What Am I Allergic To

Contacting Companies About Skin Care Ingredients If you have sensitive or allergic skin or any other skin condition it may well be necessary for you to know a full product ingredient list or at the least to know that the ingredients you are allergic to are NOT in the product. In my experience you need to check both the range in general and specific products you want to use within the range as some may be OK and others not - within the same range. Please never assume it will be alright for you.  Many of these ingredients are perfectly OK for most of the population and are good at their job but if you are allergic you need to know which products carry them and avoid those products!!  I found it easiest to email each company I was interested in and I got a good helpful response from most with a few sadly not responding to me. Some were quite suspicious, maybe thinking I was just trying to find out their "secret" ingredients ? Most were fine...

Steam Cleaning Your Home If you are in a position where many of the usual cleaning products are not good for you either due to skin allergies or other reasons such as breathing problems etc, or if you are simply looking for a cleaner, greener, more environmentally friendly way of cleaning your home - then do consider Steam Cleaning. At the outset purchasing a steam cleaner is more expensive than buying a bottle of bleach for example. However, if you count up how many bottles of various cleaning products- for your kitchen, your bathroom etc actually cost over the course of say a year you have probably more than paid for the cost of an average Steam cleaner.  Steam cleaning is also in my opinion very effective, killing germs, getting rid of the visible and invisible dirt and grime and leaving surfaces beautifully clean. All without that horrible chemical smell or any harm to your children, your pets, yourself, or the environment. You are just us...

How To Read Product Labels To Keep You And Your Skin Safe If you have skin allergies of any kind you will rapidly become an avid label reader! However reading labels carefully does not mean this will fully protect you. For example, if you have a perfume allergy you will need to be extra careful.  Words you will need to watch for are:- fragrance EDT parfam perfume toilet water. So that seems obvious, doesn't it? However relying on the words fragrance-free, non-perfumed, and the like does not always mean there is no added fragrance to the product. It may be - but you cannot assume.  Sometimes fragrances are added to products not to make them smell nice but to mask the unpleasant smell of the other ingredients, the amounts may be small but if you are allergic it can cause you a problem.  Other times a fragrance may be added for its use as a preservative, not as a perfume, yet it is still an issue to those who are allergic.  I...

Perfume And Fragrance Allergies  I have an allergy to fragrance and perfume. It came up on my skin patch allergy tests as quite a "good" reaction (which in my case was a big red welt that took 2 months to go down).  I was somewhat surprised as though I have never worn a lot of perfumes. I have worn one or two when going out for dinner, a special occasion etc and loved various body lotions that were perfumed.  I adored my scented candle collection and loved filling the home with natural fragrances... I always knew my skin was a little sensitive as I could only wear a couple of perfumes and they were of the "purer" variety. Experimenting with lower end teen type perfumes would generally bring me out on a little irritating rash when I was a teenager so I quickly learned to avoid those. However, with others I was OK. For years I have used washing powders and liquids for clothes that invariably tell you that they have a fres...

Skin Patch Allergy Testing  I had skin patch testing done for my unexplained skin condition. It does not hurt but is a little inconvenient and the reactions I found to be a bit itchy. However, it was certainly worth it to find out why my skin was reacting so badly. I wish I had it done much earlier. Skin Patch Allergy Testing Procedure The procedure I went through took one week. I had to first go to the clinic on a Monday morning to have the patches with known allergens onto my back. It felt like a series of very large sticking plasters. After that I was not permitted to get the area wet or damp so I can only have very shallow baths and not very warm either so as to avoid steam getting the patches damp.  Due to all the markings the nurses make it is wise to wear a T-shirt or shirt you don't care about as the marks may stain clothing. I wore a couple of old T-shirts day and night. It is actually easier to wear clothing that unbuttons d...

Ten People To Tell About Your Allergies.  So you have a diagnosis of various things you are allergic to and is it important that you tell anyone else? It is, of course, your decision... In my case, I felt that it was important to let key people know so that I did not put myself in danger of going through all the blistering and rashes all over again. Also because one of them is Penicillin it is vital that no one gives me that.   I am allergic to 5 main things:- Fragrances Balsam of peru Two preservatives commonly used in skincare and medical preparations. Penicillin. Due to this, it is important that key people in my life are aware of them and the reactions I can have. 1.  The Person You live with . In my case, my husband has had to change a lot of his products as well and we have had to change how we clean our home and wash our clothes so clearly he needs to be involved and aware. He has been very supportive!  2.  Friends and wid...

Well, it has been a hectic time so not been doing much posting lately. I was reflecting on how my skin condition has impacted my life over the festive period. I was invited to and went to a party just before Christmas and then it was a question of what to wear!  Before the skin allergies, I would have just chosen a dress I liked and that suited me. However, now I have to take other factors into account. my skin is still delicate so I tend to keep to very soft fabrics so that had to be a consideration. Then I could not be sure that other people at the party would not wear or spray perfume so I had to go for a dress that would cover me up more. So no sleeveless or backless dresses I had to go for one that was made of a super soft material, had long sleeves and would be giving me good coverage.  I found a beautifully soft and stylish red dress with long sleeves and a v neck. With a lovely scarf added I felt confident that my skin was well protected. Of course, I couldn't we...

According to The Daily Mail Doctors are calling for a ban on the use of this preservative methylisothiazolinone . If that is the case it is in my opinion a GOOD move!  This is one of the preservatives that I am allergic to and it is increasingly being used in so many products-skincare, shampoo, wet wipes etc. It does increase shelf life so you can see why it is attractive to manufacturers and also don't we as consumers love a long shelf life on our products...  However, with an increasing number of people suffering skin rashes, scaling skin, and eczema/dermatitis it does not seem to be a good way to go..... I know for me I have to avoid anything that has  Methylisothiazolinone   within it and that really cuts down what is available to me to use.  Watch this short video to see what a diagnosis of allergic to  methylisothiazolinone means for us.    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2357697/Doctors-ban-face-cream-chemical-b...

My next mission was to find products I CAN use. I trawled the shops in our high street and well it difficult. I checked skincare, haircare and basic household products ad could not find anything that was suitable for me with the allergies Next, I tried the internet. I basically went about it this way. First, I tried the brands I knew, brands my friends used and then did a search for skin-friendly products under various search terms.  This took a long time.... even when I found the brands often, surprisingly often there were NO ingredient listings! On some, there seemed to be partial listings and a very few actually did list the full ingredients. So with many could not tell if it would be Ok for me or not.  I decided that the only way I could be sure would be to contact each manufacturer and ask them if the product would be any good for me. So I composed a letter and emailed it out to probably over 30 companies.  I have to say most were very helpful, some assigned a...

Ok so I left the dermatologist with my three sheets of information about the allergens I was allergic to and I knew what to avoid.  The sheets were very detailed and useful and also gave the other chemical names of the allergens so i knew what I had to check on every product. It was very clear and excellent information.  What Can I Use For Skincare?  When we got home we checked all my skincare, haircare and body care- not one product was any good for me- believe it or not, every one of them contained an allergen!!! So they all went into a bin liner to be given away. Next, we checked the household products- things like washing up liquid, furniture polish, bath cleaner, kitchen cleaner- again Not one I can use- allergic to them all!! Then the washing liquids and conditioner we used for clothes- Nope I cannot use that either !! We ended up over the course of two days with a massive sack of pretty much useless products. We decided to give them all away..... No wo...

I really didn't expect much at this point. I mean how could I be allergic to anything. I had never in my life before been allergic to anything! I met with the dermatologist. I have to say the staff at the hospital who did the skin patch allergy testing were absolutely wonderful! They were calm, chatty , friendly and helpful. The nurses were just great and the doctor was very understanding. I knew from the Wednesday check up when they removed the patches that had been put on, on the Monday that there had been 3 reactions...  They intensified over the next day or two and by Friday I had 3 nice red welts or as they put it 3 "good" reactions! You can see them in the photo. So it was easy to tell what I was in fact allergic to. The dermatologist explained everything and gave me 3 sheets with the allergens on them and essentially told me to completely avoid ALL the allergens for the rest of my life. She said it would mean quite a lifestyle change.... I was initial...

Being the person I am I just had to know more about my possible risk of this skin condition being Lupus. So I researched and read and found out as much as I could.  I went for the blood test and I told my Doctor I was worried about maybe having Lupus.  He was reassuring and said it was unlikely in my case as I was not exhibiting several of the main symptoms...but a simple blood test would help us to confirm or not. He gave me a brief summary of what the condition of Lupus is and what it means anyway. So the links below are the ones I found most useful for discovering about Lupus and help available. http://www.lupusuk.org.uk/