Allergic Reaction to Natural Instincts Hair Color

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Miss Liberty
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Allergic Reaction to Natural Instincts Hair Color

Post by Miss Liberty » Tue Oct 16, 2012 1:24 pm

Hey all!

I am writing because I am having one heck of an allergic reaction to Natural Instincts black hair color from Clairol. I did an undecolor on Saturday, with teal on top. I did not do a strand test or any kind of allergy test because I have used this brand and shade a couple of times over the years without issue.

Now I have a LOT of red itchy bumps, my scalp is swollen, and it burns slightly. It is only where I applied the black, not the teal. At first I thought it had just dried my skin out a bit, since black can be harsh. But this is now the second morning I have awoken with it and it is definitely some kind of reaction. It reaches behind my ears and down my neck a bit. I am also sneezing quite a bit which is odd for me, but I don't know that the two are related.

Anyway, my question is has anyone experienced this before? Is there anything I can do to sooth and aid in the healing process? I know tea tree oil is suppose to help an irritated scalp, but I don't think I can find it locally. By the time it arrives from online I may be through this. Any other tricks or tips? I am also a little scared to wash my hair again, as I did on Sunday night and it seemed to make the problem worse and I can't tell how broken the skin really is because, well, you know....there is all of my hair in the way! ha.

I guess this is a lesson to all out there that even though you may have used a color in the past, if its been a while you may want to test for allergies again. :(

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LittlePinkFaery
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Re: Allergic Reaction to Natural Instincts Hair Color

Post by LittlePinkFaery » Tue Oct 16, 2012 4:38 pm

Wondering if you had a small cut on your head, the dye getting in can cause a reaction to ppd. If this has happened you may find you cannot ever use dye, even non ppd. I have seen horrific reactions.

http://dermnetnz.org/dermatitis/paraphe ... lergy.html
http://forums.plentyoffish.com/datingPosts13958977.aspx

It is found in higher quantities in darker shades.

I hope this is a temporary thing for you and it won't happen again but I am hearing more nd more of this reaction fom friends- got to wonder what the hell they are changing in hair dyes (says she with bleach on her head right now ignoring the it itches!).

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Miss Liberty
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Re: Allergic Reaction to Natural Instincts Hair Color

Post by Miss Liberty » Tue Oct 16, 2012 9:59 pm

oh no! that is quite alarming. I'll read thru these links. I have had chemical burn on my scalp from bleach before, but that was my own deliberate doing. This is different. It seems to be subsiding a bit, but is certainly still present. Bummer.

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Miss Liberty
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Re: Allergic Reaction to Natural Instincts Hair Color

Post by Miss Liberty » Thu Oct 18, 2012 2:50 pm

Ok, so, I thought I would update in case this happens to anyone else. This is day five now since I dyed my hair, and day four of the reaction. The first couple of days were painful and so irritating. I had a lot of tightness, swelling, and itchy bumps all over my scalp in the areas I put the black hair color. By day two they started traveling down my neck and towards the sides of my face. I have one large lump under the skin on the side of my neck. That freaked me right out!

Washing my hair two days ago made it worse, as I must have released more ppd into my scalp. This made for a fire like feeling right out of the shower. It subsided after an hour or so, but the itching continued.

Yesterday I received the contact information for a local dermatologist, and I told myself if it was not better today I would go. Last night I applied a mixture of lime juice and olive oil to the areas I could easily get to, behind my ears, around my hairline, and down my neck. This seems to have helped, as I did not scratch in my sleep as much and I am in much better shape today. It is still itchy and sore, but seems to be healing. My insurance is very expensive for specialists so I am trying to avoid the fee. But again, I may go tomorrow if I see no further improvement.

An interesting thing to note, as I did a lot of reading on ppd, is that heat can make a reaction worse. The day after I dyed my hair, I was at Disney's Epcot all day in the very hot sun with my hair pulled back exposing the black undercolor. To combat the rays, I used a spray sunscreen, which contained....you guessed it....more ppd. >.< So I would advise anyone else going thru a reaction like this to stay away from heat and powerful sun and read all products so that you do not double dose yourself.

This experience has left me feeling VERY disenchanted with the hair color industry. It seems this reaction is not uncommon, and while ppd hair color is banned in Europe, its just fine for the good old US of A. I guess from this point forward I will be doing a LOT of research before using ANY boxed dye, as well as the bottles from Sally's. Funny to think the wild colors out there are so safe, since they are considered so socially extreme, and its the "NORMAL" shades that can really harm you!

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AnarchoFett
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Re: Allergic Reaction to Natural Instincts Hair Color

Post by AnarchoFett » Thu Oct 18, 2012 5:23 pm

That's terrible! Thanks for sharing this, I'll be more wary of natural dyes from now on
A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having -V

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