hair colourants safe in pregnancy

[Guest guest]

Hello all,

A patient of mine who has a history of miscarriage and is pregnant again has

been trying to find a natural herb-based hair colouring product (to cover up

grey hair) without any substances carrying potential health hazards to the baby.

She is worried about ammonia, hydrogen peroxide and any other toxic ingredients

which might enter the bloodstream once they've been absorbed by the skin. I

suggested leaving hair colourants aside for the duration, but she is very

anxious about her appearance - she is what in my time was, charmingly, called an

'elderly' primigravida (do they still call any first-pregnant woman over 35 or

so this? I had my one and only daughter at 33, so only narrowly missed the

label!) and her naturally black hair- she is Indian - is, indeed, going grey

around the temples. There might be a reason behind her anxiety, as she does not

feel secure in her marriage, but that is another story. At the moment she is so

wound up about the hair colour issue that I fee

l I have to help her to calm down and relax or it will become an obsession - in

the long run potentially more harmful to her own wellbeing, if not the pregnancy

itself. I also tried suggesting that she try some simple/pure natural colouring

substances like henna or infusion of black walnut leaves, but she does not want

to go with that.

She has discovered a product advertised as Herbatint, which her hairdresser has

agreed to buy and use for her hair, and is now hoping that I advise her on its

safety. Now, I have never been sufficiently interested in changing my own hair

colour (except for a few half-hearted experiments - none particularly successful

- with chamomile flowers and very strong black tea when I was a teenager) to

ever investigate hair dye ingredients. Nor do I have enough knowledge of the

chemistry of the ingredients listed below to advise her on their use. The only

conclusion I myself can draw from the list is that the few herbal ingredients

listed are not even the ones used as colourants in the first place. And I do not

like the sound of the -phenols either, but beyond that I'd have to go back to

the drawing-board and dig up the chemistry modules from years back when I was

doing the herbal course.

Ingredients Herbatint Improved Formula:

Laureth-5 Emulsive agent

Propylene Glycol Hydrating and solvent agent

Aqua Demineralized water

Peg 2 Oleamine Emulsive agent

Ethanolamine adjuster

Aloe Barbadensis Vegetal extract

Peg 75 meadowfoam seed oil Vegetal extract (limnanthes alba)

Betula alba Vegetal extract

Cetrimonium Chloride Conditioner

Hamamelide virginiana Vegetal extract

Echinacea Angustifolia Vegetal extract

Sodium bisulfite Preservative agent

Tetrasodium EDTA Conditioning agent

p-Phenilendiamine Colouring

m-Phenilendiamine Colouring

2 Amino 3 hydroxypiridine Colouring

p Aminophenol Colouring

m Aminophenol Colouring

2 Methyl 1,3 benzediol Colouring

4 Chloro 1,3 benzediol Colouring

2 Amino 4 Hydroxyethylaminoanisole sulfate Colouring

p methylaminophenol sulfate Colouring

I'd be very grateful for any information on the above - obviously, I don't

expect anyone to come up with minute analysis of every single item on the list,

but I do hope that there will be a fellow herbalist somewhere out there with

sufficient knowledge of the chemicals listed at her/his fingertips to warn me of

any potential red flags going up as far as pregnancy is concerned (any known

mutagens? abortifacients? carcinogens?) - otherwise I can see myself sitting up

night after night ploughing through endless reams of Internet info. without even

any real way of checking whether it is correct or reliable.

To my patient, this is very urgent (grey hairs showing more and more!) - this

might be seen as a trivial concern, but it is creating some very real distress

for her. One day, if appropriate, I might choose to talk with her about her

issues with self-image etc, but this is not the time. My feeling is to tell her

to go ahead, dye her hair, relax and feel good about it, but in the light of

her history I'd still like to check it out for any obviously unsafe components.

Also, should this pregnancy fail as well, I feel I need to arm myself against

any potential accusations of " allowing " her to use a potentially harmful

product.

By the way, she is in her ninth week.

Any advice gratefully received, on or off list.

Ania Cannon

P.S. Why, for heavens' sake, is Echinacea one of the ingredients, I'd like to

know.

ania@...

2007-04-26