As all pregnant mamas may know, besides being restricted from certain foods during pregnancy, you may also want to postpone some of your regular beauty treatments such as hair dyes at your hairdresser.

Why? Lots of mamas are worried about the chemicals. Although limited research has been done on the matter of hair dyes during pregnancy but this research does suggest that only a small amount of chemicals found in hair dye is actually absorbed into your skin and may not reach your baby at all. Most mamas do worry about inhaling the chemical fumes as they are also unpleasant especially for mamas suffering from morning sickness.

As soon as I entered my thirties, the grey hair came with it. It is not too bad overall but I do have this “grey patch” just on my top hairline which is clearly visible.

Since a visit to the hairdresser was off the table for me and most home treatments dyes are also filled with chemicals that I did not want to inhale whilst pregnant, I decided to go with the most popular natural dye - Henna.

What is Henna? Henna is a small flowering shrub that has many uses. The fragrant flowers are used to create perfume and the leaves are dried and then turned into a fine powder that’s used for dying clothes, hair and temporarily dying the skin — the famous henna tattooing. The plant has even been known to treat skin conditions.

I decided to give the Henna dye by LUSH a try. It comes in a block which can be cut off to your needs and be reused at a later stage. The henna block comes in different colors such as: mid-brown, dark brown, red shades and deep blue black. It costs 35$SG (350,000 IDR) at any Lush store in Singapore. The shopgirl explained to me briefly how to do it. In short:

Melt the henna, apply the henna, wait for it to dry, wash out. Seems easy enough. She also gave me a pair of gloves and little “how-to” leaflet with my purchase.

On a lazy day I began my henna dye tryout. You will need about 6 hours of free time so best pick a day where you do not plan to leave the house for a while. I prepared the henna in a bain-marie first which took way too long for my liking so instead I tried out another method that many others have used.

Preparing your henna : Put the cut up henna pieces in a heat resistant bowl and slowly add water whilst stirring until the mixture reaches a melted chocolate consistency. It looks and smells like herbal-poo. Just FYI.

Preparing yourself : Prepare your area in the bathroom where you plan to use the henna with newspapers or a dirty towel. It will get messy! Smear Vaseline all around your skin area that might get in touch with the dye such as forehead and ears.

Once the henna has settled into a warm temperature you can start putting in on your hair. Don’t even bother doing it with a brush, use your hands and smear it all over your hair, gently massaging it into. It is really easier sad than done. In my case it splattered everywhere and within minutes I had it on my floor, sink, shoulders, forehead.

Once I somewhat had it all over my hair I put them up on a bun and waited. Some people use cling wrap to wrap them in but I did not.

The mixture will dry and you will end up with a dried clay texture on your head for the next hours. It reminded me somewhat of dreadlocks.

4 hours later....

Washing it out is a lengthy process. Best to wash out with water first and then with a little moisturizing shampoo. I gave my hair an immediate coconut oil bath since it became so dry.

The results?

My hair do have an even new shine now from the henna. As for the grey hair, it is still there but it somewhat blends in more now. The henna did not fully cover the grey but shaded it slightly. I took the photo more than a week later to see if it would wash out or the shine would vanish but overall the color stayed consistent.

Overall verdict: If I can salon-dye my hair again I definitely choose that option but for pregnant mamas henna is a good compromise. If you find a hair salon that does henna I would recommend going to a professional simply to avoid the mess at home but keep in mind that it can take up to 5 hours to set in.

Would I do it again? I probably would but maybe will ask the husband or a friend to help out!

Henna Hair Dye at home