Pregnancy and Beauty

Most of us know that it is best to minimize your exposure to harsh chemicals when you are pregnant. However, when it comes to beauty, hair and skin care, you might be endangering the health of you or your baby without knowing it. For the sake of vanity and sanity, you should keep up with your regular "beauty maintenance" but make a few amendments if you think something could be potentially harmful.

Pregnancy is often a catalyst for "going green" because many women suddenly realize that a lifestyle change is necessary in order to protect their future child's health while in utero. We think that choosing to be a "green parent" is an admirable choice, but we also know that this lifestyle can be a challenge to maintain if you have not always been holistic. Therefore, here are some tips to help you choose wisely when tackling which beauty products to ditch when you are preggers:

Dying for a new hair color? Interestingly enough,contrary to popular belief, hair dye is not thought to pose harm to a developing baby because only a small amount of dye will penetrate the skin. If you are concerned that your hair about the use of hair dye, contact your health care provider to see what he or she suggests. However, if you decide to dye your hair take these precautions into consideration from the Food and Drug Administration:

*Wear gloves when applying hair dye

*Apply hair dye as quickly as possible

*Rinse your scalp thoroughly after using hair dye


Yearning for a tan? Depend on your pregnancy "glow" instead. An elevated body temperature can be dangerous to your unborn baby so tanning beds are not a great option. Unfortunately, while spray tanning is a safer option as far as skin cancer is concerned, it is not known if the chemicals used can pose a risk to your developing fetus. Want to look bronze? Get a great bronzer to give your face that "fresh off the beach" look.


Got a blemish? Don't use prescription acne medication. Your doctor probably warned you about this already, however, just in case you did not know that these drugs were dangerous, stay away. Birth defects have been related to the use of Accutane and though less information is known about Retin-A, it is similar in its molecular structure so beware. Having zits is no fun, but neither is potentially harming your baby.Look out for other skin clearing treatments like tea tree oil which has wonderful anit-microbial properties and will get your skin squeeky clean.


Love manicures/pedicures ? Go bare. Treat yourself to a mani/pedi but stay away from color. Many nail products contain ingredients that have raised concerns about reproductive toxicity. Though getting your nails done has not been proven to be harmful, there is an inadequate amount of evidence to prove that it is safe. Our thoughts? Indulge in color if you really want to but make it a special occasion not every week. After all, it's better to be safe than sorry.


Have a lovely weekend!!
xoxo,
The Moody Mamas