Archive for August, 2012

Making the Switch to a Greener Lifestyle

Many women wonder about the best time to get healthy, in anticipation of a baby. Is it ever too early or too late to make changes to your lifestyle towards greener, healthier habits? Should you examine your lifestyle while conceiving? Is it OK to wait until the moment the pregnancy test reads, “YES?” Or is a switch to healthy living most effective once your infant is born?

Understanding the nature of environmental toxins and your baby’s development can help provide you an answer.

Toxic Burden

Consider “toxic burden,” or the sum of toxic chemicals that accumulate in your body over time. Planet Earth is not sterile; it’s impossible to completely avoid exposure to harmful compounds. You can exacerbate your toxic burden, however, with the use of certain beauty products, artificial foods, and other chemical-laden products. Women, especially those considering pregnancy, should be aware of toxic burden’s cumulative effect on the body over time. By simple virtue of living on a planet rife with harmful compounds, your blood stream has likely already built up levels of chemicals — at least 700 of such — that tax and harm your health. No body, pregnant or otherwise, starts a period of cleansing from a chemically blank state.[1]

Chemical Exposures in the Womb

Mothers-to-be should remember how actions in their own bodies impact their infants’ health. This holds truth when baby is in the womb, with mother’s nutrients and processes literally informing how well or poorly her child grows. Importantly, via the placenta, pregnant women may pass on chemicals they are exposed to during pregnancy to their developing babies.

The placenta fortunately does filter a few toxins. Yet by no means does it completely eradicate every contaminant from the pregnant body. Says a report from the Mt. Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center, “[cases involving] infants exposed in the womb to thalidomide [and] di-ethyl stilbestrol… destroyed forever the myth of the invulnerable placenta.”[2]

Taking Care of Baby After Birth

Your body also influences your baby post-delivery. Breastmilk, for instance, can carry both crucial nutritive compounds and your body’s toxins along with it. Let’s say you’d prefer not to breastfeed. Does this spell the end of your body’s influence on your baby? The answer is a resounding no. Children’s development responds to both genetics and their environment. For nine months, your belly provided for your baby. Beyond pregnancy, your surroundings still exert a major impact. The World Health Organization clarifies:

“During early childhood (from the prenatal period to eight years of age), children undergo rapid growth that is highly influenced by their environment. Many challenges faced by adults, such as… obesity [and] heart disease… can be traced back to early childhood.”

The Time is Now

Invest in your future child’s health now by deciding to implement, and maintain, a toxin-free lifestyle. Today is the perfect occasion to begin a switch to wellness. Your health directly reflects onto your child. Why wait one more day to protect him or her? Have you done anything to safeguard your family from the toxins that encircle them?

Read our safe pregnancy tips to reducing your chemical load during your nine months.

[1] Chemical Body Burden. What is Body Burden? Retrieved from http://www.chemicalbodyburden.org/whatisbb.htm.

[2] Landrigan, P. 2010. Exploring the Environmental Causes of Autism and Learning Disabilities, pg.8. Mt. Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center.

What Pregnancy Does to Your Hair

Most of us associate pregnancy with a spike in hormones and the symptoms they bring about. Irritability, morning sickness, constipation – pregnant women can expect to encounter such annoyances, burdening that nine-month path to baby.

Yet the increase in estrogen experienced during pregnancy does provide one sparkling asset: a thick, rich head of hair. Typically, around 90% of your hair is in a growth phase, while the other 10% is in a resting phase and eventually falls out. During pregnancy though, the heightened hormone levels in your body prolong the growth phase, meaning less of your hair is in resting phase at any given point in time and fewer hairs fall out.

Fast-forward to baby’s arrival. Nine months of hormones and hair aplenty have come to an end. For better or worse, so will the impressive growth in your hair. Your body will recommence its cycle of regular hair loss. One in every two women will experience “excessive shedding of hair” post-pregnancy.[1] This can linger for up to six months after baby’s delivery. Such hair loss can be quite dramatic, especially after a shower where you may see your shower drain covered with hairs. Not to worry, such hair loss is temporary.

Taking care of your hair during and after pregnancy

Proper hair maintenance can help to moderate the hormonal effects on your locks. Here are a few tips:

  1. Embrace your thicker hair: Take advantage of your luscious, thick hair and use it to your advantage - a great hairstyle can help keep you feeling beautiful even while the rest of your body is changing.
  2. Use gentle, pregnancy safe haircare products: As a rule of thumb, shampoo your hair using products with natural, plant-based surfactants, which are much less harsh than sulfate-laden shampoos (same chemical used for car washes!). Nine Naturals Citrus + Mint Nourishing Shampoo uses natural, coconut-derived soaps, which are gentle on your locks, yet still cleansing.
  3. Keep your hair moisturized: Since fewer hairs shed during pregnancy and more old hairs stay put, your hair may tend to be more dry. Always follow a shampoo with a generous conditioning session. Try Nine Naturals Citrus + Mint Nourishing Conditioner, which uses moisturizing plant-based emollients like broccoli seed oil and shea butter and natural hair strengthening ingredients like vitamin B5 and flax seed oil.
  4. Avoid coloring your hair: Be weary of coloring your hair during pregnancy to not only avoid unnecessary exposure to harmful chemicals, but also uncertain outcomes to your pregnancy hair. While it may not be a proven fact, some hairstylists claim that their customers’ hair has responded differently to coloring treatments during pregnancy. Harsh chemical treatments can also damage hair, making it more brittle and dry.

A careful pregnancy haircare regimen will ensure that once your hair does start to fall out post-pregnancy, the hair your left with will be in a healthy condition.

Dealing with postpartum hair loss

If you experience postpartum hair loss, make sure to be gentle with your hair so not to damage the hair that remains. You’ll notice a lot of fly-aways as the old hairs are shed and new hairs grow in their place. Here are some postpartum haircare tips:

  1. Experiment with new hairstyles and accessories: New hairstyles and hair accessories are creative ways to keep the fly-aways at bay. Fun braids or barrettes and headbands may do the trick.
  2. Leave-in conditioner can help manage fly-aways: Use a small dab of Nine Naturals Mandarin + Ginger Restorative Conditioner as a leave-in conditioner to weigh down the little sprouts of hair.
  3. Dry shampoo between hair washes: Try an organic dry shampoo between hair washes so you don’t have to worry about managing your hair with the new baby in tow and to reduce harsh overstyling.

[1] American Pregnancy Association. (2007, March). Pregnancy and Hair Loss.