Lashes & Brows in Pregnancy

If you have a client that’s pregnant you might be asking yourself whether you can carry out lash and brow treatments safely and without any risk to your client and that’s what we’re here to answer today. As you know, pregnancy can significantly affect the hormone levels in a woman’s body and this can have an impact on a client’s sensitivity and reaction to different chemicals.

Let’s look at the different treatments and whether they’re safe to carry out on a pregnant client.

Lash Lifting

It is advised that a lash lifting should be carried out after the first trimester of pregnancy, although the chemicals used are not absorbed into the body (because they’re only being applied to the lashes) there is still a greater risk of allergic reaction in the first trimester due to the hormone changes. After the first 3 months this settles down and should have less of an impact, but you should still patch test to be sure – even if a client has had this treatment before.

Eyebrow Tinting

Eyebrow tinting is perfectly acceptable is you are pregnant although as with any process that uses chemicals you should patch test before use to ensure that changing hormone levels in your client’s body have not affected their sensitivity to the dyes. In some cases, although they may not have an adverse reaction, the changes in their body can cause the tint results to vary from what you’d usually expect- the hair can be less absorbent meaning that the colour will not take as well.

Brow Lamination

A brow lamination treatment uses chemicals and dyes to make your eyebrows fuller and more defined and as such you should always patch test your client’s beforehand but especially if they are pregnant – even if they have had the treatment before. Medical recommendations are that you should wait until after the first trimester trimester in order to carry out this treatment to ensure that hormone levels are more settled and less likely to affect the result. Again, the hormones can create inconsistent or unexpected results so make sure you communicate this with your client before starting.

Please note – you should also ensure that you adhere to your own insurance on these treatments as some providers do not cover these treatments during pregnancy so make sure you check your policy!

Although there is not a lot of research into how pregnant women react to cosmetic brow treatments there are three key takeaways:

1. You should always do a patch test even if a client has had the treatment before
2. The treatment may not turn out as you expect as the hair can react differently with the hormone fluctuations
3. If you are worried about sensitivity or affects, then wait until the first trimester is over

But overall, there is no reason why your pregnant clients cannot enjoy lash and brow treatments as they progress through their pregnancy.