Babies Just Love Drinking Hair Dye, Right?

Babies Just Love Drinking Hair Dye, Right?

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Hey Mommy, if you're going to breastfeed, can you at least put down the baby long enough to get your roots done?

Momlogic's Momstrosity: It's been a couple years since I was breastfeeding my baby. Maybe the rules have changed? I was at the hair salon last week getting a haircut, and the woman next to me was getting her color done. Nothing wrong with that -- except while the woman was having massive amounts of hair dye brushed onto her hair, she was simultaneously nursing a baby.

I don't even like to take my toddler into a nail salon because of the fumes, and here is this woman, hair all ablaze in foil strips, giving her child nutrients while chemicals are being absorbed into her skin. Yeah, I know that getting any time to yourself when you are a new mother is a bitch. You don't have time to shower, shave your legs ... been there, done that.

But shouldn't you at least unlatch your kid during a routine salon visit?

OK, I'm no doctor, so I thought I'd ask one. OB/GYN Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz put it to me this way: "Hair dye and roots dye has far greater opportunity to get into the blood supply sitting on mom's scalp, and then theoretically into many body tissues and fluids such as breast milk. This is incredibly difficult to study, and it is extremely hard to document any potential harm to mom or baby, but a great opportunity to rethink elective exposures we subject not only our kids to, but also ourselves."

Ultimately, Dr. Gilberg-Lenz thinks we should all be looking at the big picture. "We seem pretty concerned about environmental hazards -- what about the crap we put directly on and in our bodies? Think about only putting on stuff you would actually eat or feed your kids." Hmm. Food for thought.

Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz completed her undergraduate education at Wesleyan University and post-baccalaureate pre-med studies at Mills College. She earned her medical degree from the USC School of Medicine and has been in private practice for 9 years. She is the co-founder of Cedar Sinai Medical Center's Green Committee and lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children.

filed under: pregnancy & baby logic

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so don’t dye your hair if you have a baby.

- Anonymous

Posted 10/27/09 08:56 AM

oh please! breastmilk (even if there is the minute possibility that a trace amount of dye has passed through it) is still FAR superior to formula, which is loaded with chemicals. flame me ladies- but this is the truth!!!

- jennifer

Posted 10/27/09 01:16 PM

I’m a hairstylist & I can see the concern about the chemicals possible getting into the breastmilk. However I think the bigger concern here is the more likely event of some of that dye dropping onto the baby, while mommy gets her hair done. Salon clients wear those capes for a reason. Dye drips, spills, fligs around salons all the time. There is a huge possibility of dye dripping into that baby’s eye, or mouth, while it is being applied to the mom’s hair!! Personally, I wouldn’t have done her hair under those circumstances….the stylist must not have any children.

- hairstylist/mom

Posted 10/27/09 01:57 PM

I had no choice to take my 8 week old with me to get my hair done because I too was still nursing. Although I nursed him while I got my hair cut after getting my hair colored. I agree with Jennifer that breastmilk is wayyy better than formula!

- Shannon

Posted 10/27/09 02:05 PM

Why would any mom want to bring her baby to the salon? That is when a mom can finally be pampered and relax. As a mom of two I would say that better planning would have made this better for everyone…like, pumping, timing, and a babysitter. Not easy, but well worth it.

- G

Posted 10/27/09 02:12 PM

A salon is NO place for children!!!!! I don’t give a rats butt if you are still nursing your child…If you can’t leave them at home for a couple hours, then guess what? YOU DON’T GO TO THE SALON AND GET YOUR HAIR DONE!! It’s called being a parent, if you have no babysitter then you give up the things you are used to doing before having kids. Nothing annoyed me more when I was doing hair, than kids in a salon who weren’t getting services done. LEAVE THEM AT HOME! If you can’t leave them at home, THEN DON’T COME!!! People have a lot of nerve doing stupid stuff like that, I bet you anything your stylist hates you for bringing your kid in!

- Anonymous

Posted 10/27/09 04:14 PM

Ever notice the most hateful comments are annonymous? I haven’t gotten my hair cut in well over a year. I believe we’re rapidly approaching two years. I want to get it cut, but don’t want my nursling breathing that ctap, and I would just be too upset about being gone, knowing it was something so frivilous. So I’ll probably just not get it cut for a very long time. Oh well. At least I won’t inadvertently be dropping money into the pocket of someone who resents their clients for having offspring.

- slee

Posted 10/27/09 08:58 PM

Oh shut up Jennifer.

- T.

Posted 10/27/09 09:07 PM

You do have a choice if you are breast feeding…pump and bottle. Working in a salon, I wouldn’t want my child expose to all the chemicals either. I agree that when you go to the salon, it should be a relaxing experience for ALL customers. Please leave your children home and enjoy yourself.

- tina

Posted 10/28/09 04:58 AM

I agree with those who feel that a salon is no palce to bring a baby and that a greater risk was dying accidential falling on the nursing baby. I wonder if the salon allowed it because so many nursing mothers have sued to breastfeeding their kids whereever and whenever and whenever or the state has passed a breastfeeding protection law? My state has. I’m not saying that women shouldn’t breastfeed or have protection to do so, I’m merely stating that not all places are safe or suitable, ie a salon or on a public bus (true incident)or a business meeting.

- Chrissy

Posted 10/28/09 11:45 PM