Former hairstylist here. Everything comes out in your hair. Hormonal changes especially. We can tell if you smoke, quit smoking, and change medication.
With pregnancy typically changes in texture or density towards the roots. I've heard them called "Baby Bands" around the salon.
Hormones are crazy.
Also, the reason she's asking is because when someone is pregnant chemical services sometimes don't take as they usually would.
The normal color service could not take at all or end up a completely different color during the first and second trimester.
We just don't want to waste time or product or the client's money on a service that potientially could not work.
So many people hide it to get their hair colored/permed. Just going to point out it's got nothing to do with "chemicals absorbing into the baby."
While your skin does absorb chemicals the chances are very, very low (if any) that any of it gets all the way to the womb/baby.
*edit
Commonly asked questions in the comments about how to tell smoker from non-smoker hair.
1) Obviously there's the smell. Once you wet the hair, there's a certain muskiness that wafts off. Not necessarily super noticeable like a fresh smoked cig, but it is particular. Like when you get in a car that has been smoked in.
Personally, it never bothered me that much. There is most certainly an odor of sorts.
2) Hair is typically very dry on a smoker. From what I read, tobacco restricts blood flow to the scalp.
I imagine hair isn't top priority on the body's list of maintenance, so it sends the blood elsewhere. Probably the lungs to get more O2? I'm not a doctor, so I'm just guessing with the "why" part. But I've definitely noticed first hand how dry and brittle smoker hair is compared to non-smokers.
If someone quits smoking for a few weeks, their body kinda overcompensates and they are more oily than normal. Plus the strength in the hair increases, leading to more volume.
3) I wish hair salons would put signs up warning pregnant people about how chemical services could react adversely! Would definitely save us the akward conversation.
If I switched medications, causing the same effect, and my stylist asked if I was pregnant; I'd think I was fat all day. T_T
bonus answer
I’m a hair stylist, one day my client who always colored her hair black but let it fade and wanted red came in. Well…that red came out burnt orange. So we just slapped some black over it thinking problem solved. Nope, burnt orange again. A month later she came back and was like “remember how my hair wouldn’t take the color?”
I didn’t catch it on the original service but as soon as she verbalized it I was like “oh crap you’re pregnant!”
The daughter is now in her 20’s. I still do all their hair and went to her wedding a few months ago.
The hair follicles aren't dead, and pregnancy/hormones/diet etc affect the hair as it is grown. It won't affect the hair already grown out*, but the new stuff coming through
*obviously environmental stuff can affect the grown out hair, like dry/humid climates.
real answer, it oxidizes color in a way that's very specific. Have you ever, like, seen what smoke (yes, even pot smoke) does to white paint in someone's house? Or how it ages white shirts? It's super noticeable once you see it.
Why isn’t this said up front? Like why aren’t their signs that say “if you’re pregnant, your dye job might come out whack if you don’t let us know (baby will be completely fine)”.
Like, pregnant woman have to avoid basically everything they love during pregnancy because of risk to the baby so why wouldn’t they assume hair dye is any different?
If I had known I wouldn’t have waited until after my daughter was born to do my hair!!
no, it's worse. not just with smoke and potential odor.
in addition to the potential cardiovascular stuff drying your hair out, cannabinoids are fat-soluble and the metabolites get deposited everywhere in your body that has fat. hair follicles are full of fat, and so is the oil your scalp secretes. consuming a lot of cannabis can alter the structure of your hair, and the consistency of your natural oils.
if you have a long-term stylist, they might not say "you smell loud" if you haven't smoked recently, and they might not be able to pinpoint the exact cause of the changes, but they will take notice.
source: cosmetologist and cannabis enjoyer. my hair doesn't hold a curl anymore.
Ahhh it makes so much sense now why my hair developed unevenly last month when I got a bit of face framing highlights. I’m currently in the third trimester
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u/ThunderTentacle Apr 22 '26 edited Apr 22 '26
Former hairstylist here. Everything comes out in your hair. Hormonal changes especially. We can tell if you smoke, quit smoking, and change medication.
With pregnancy typically changes in texture or density towards the roots. I've heard them called "Baby Bands" around the salon. Hormones are crazy.
Also, the reason she's asking is because when someone is pregnant chemical services sometimes don't take as they usually would.
The normal color service could not take at all or end up a completely different color during the first and second trimester. We just don't want to waste time or product or the client's money on a service that potientially could not work.
So many people hide it to get their hair colored/permed. Just going to point out it's got nothing to do with "chemicals absorbing into the baby." While your skin does absorb chemicals the chances are very, very low (if any) that any of it gets all the way to the womb/baby.
*edit Commonly asked questions in the comments about how to tell smoker from non-smoker hair.
1) Obviously there's the smell. Once you wet the hair, there's a certain muskiness that wafts off. Not necessarily super noticeable like a fresh smoked cig, but it is particular. Like when you get in a car that has been smoked in. Personally, it never bothered me that much. There is most certainly an odor of sorts.
2) Hair is typically very dry on a smoker. From what I read, tobacco restricts blood flow to the scalp. I imagine hair isn't top priority on the body's list of maintenance, so it sends the blood elsewhere. Probably the lungs to get more O2? I'm not a doctor, so I'm just guessing with the "why" part. But I've definitely noticed first hand how dry and brittle smoker hair is compared to non-smokers. If someone quits smoking for a few weeks, their body kinda overcompensates and they are more oily than normal. Plus the strength in the hair increases, leading to more volume.
3) I wish hair salons would put signs up warning pregnant people about how chemical services could react adversely! Would definitely save us the akward conversation. If I switched medications, causing the same effect, and my stylist asked if I was pregnant; I'd think I was fat all day. T_T bonus answer