Safe to color hair when breastfeding?

[Guest guest]

I have a mom who asked if it was safe to color her hair while breastfeeding – cannot find any supporting literature as to a definitive answer. Anyone know for sure? Thanks, Joan

[Guest guest]

Ive seen lactnet debate, and some say so long as the chemicals are not absorbed

by the scalp, no problem. Other say it's an unknown, and how on earth would one

get them onto the roots without contacting the scalp?.

I have mentioned to moms that mixtures of henna with other staining herbs can

match practically any shade of hair, and are well known to be safe, with a track

record of more than a century. Hennaforhair.com is where I get mine, and she

has quite a bit of info on what is in typical boxed dyes. I love that I can

mix it up, slap it on, and fall asleep with a shower cap on. It smells like

tea, and when I wake up in the wee hours to go to the bathroom, I just rinse it

all out in the shower. It is very conditioning, instead of frying hair like

commercial dyes can do. Gets rid of frizz like nothing else I've ever found.

So there is a nice benign option available!

Lynn in Mo

[Guest guest]

This must come from the advice to not color hair while pregnant. Really one need not worry about that either.During breastfeeding it would be one of those things that would need to be absorbed by the skin and get into the bloodstream or body and contaminate the milk. And as with most medications what goes on a small area of skin is not going to easily affect breastmilk. There would be very little. Chemicals in shampoos, conditioners and hair dyes are not good for us anyway, but unless we go totally natural, we will be exposed. Do you (or the mom) have supporting research to say, for sure, that it is not safe? http://www.otispregnancy.org/files/hairtreatments.pdfThis paragraph is taken from the above paper. There is a list of references on the page.There is no information on having hair treatments during breastfeeding. It is highly unlikely that a significant amount would enter the breast milk because so little enters the mom’s bloodstream. Many women receive hair treatments while breastfeeding, and there are no known reports of negative outcomes. July 2010. Copyright by OTIS. Cheryl n, IBCLC, RLC To: Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2012 6:11 PM Subject: Safe to color hair when breastfeding?

I have a mom who asked if it was safe to color her hair while breastfeeding – cannot find any supporting literature as to a definitive answer. Anyone know for sure? Thanks, Joan