allergic to shampoo?!

[BumbleNova]

ladies - does anyone else have this? when I wash my hair I get a red rash on my upper body with small raised lumps that look like stinging nettle stings. its itchy/painful when scratched. I get it with all shampoos, some better than others and it doesn't affect my scalp. Aussie is the best but still a bit, tresemme the green label one used to be good too but they have changed the formula and its now terrible. herbal essences is awful and is loreal.

does anyone know what I might be reacting too? and any shampoos that might be better? I have been pondering treating myself to aveda but if it will bring me out in a rash thats very expensive for one use...

[SweetAdeline]

I've just had allergy patch testing done because of bad contact dermatitis and one of the things I reacted to was a fragrance mix. I think this is reasonably common. Sadly in my case one of the possible culprits is Citronellol which is used by Aveda so I'm swapping to Green People or Jason's fragrance free shampoos once my giant, horrendously expensive bottle of Shampure runs out in the hope it'll help my itchy back.

I also used to use the Tresemme naturals one. Both that and the Aveda Shampure did improve things compared to SLS shampoos so Aveda might be worth a try for you. I noticed they do travel size recently so you could give it a try that way.

[BumbleNova]

oh I might try the travel size ones. Where did you get your allergy patch testing done?

maybe i need to do some serious reading of shampoo bottles. hmmm.

[SweetAdeline]

I'm in Ireland so can't recommend anybody in the UK. The company who applied the patches were based at a private hospital so might be worth trying Spire/Bupa. Mine was arranged through a consultant dermatologist who I saw after pushing the GP for a referral but we pay for most healthcare here so it wasn't too hard to get them to agree. I had the patches applied on a Monday and removed on Wednesday then the dermatologist checked my skin on Friday to see which things I had reacted to.

[Palindrome27]

I'm allergic to most shampoos & have similar symptoms to you Bumble , I use Philip Kingsley itchy flaky scalp, occasionally mixed in with Aussie when my hair needs more bounce. It's not cheap, but the alternative is flaky patches all over my head & face. Good luck!

[aquamarine85]

Just wondered if you ever got any answers bumble. I just read this and I literally could have written it myself

[aquamarine85]

@BumbleNova

[darisdet]

Have you tried things like E45 shampoo?

[darisdet]

I hope you have a solution, six years later, OP

Zombie thread 😐

[aquamarine85]

Hi no I wasn't aware e45 did a shampoo, I've recently been using simple shampoo which is the best I've found but the conditioner just doesn't provide enough moisture my hair is quite dry, I used treseme conditioner tonight and wham my whole back and upper arms broke out in like a stinging nettle rash

[BumbleNova]

Nope! No comprehensive answers but the shampoos I don't react to tend to be the expensive ones. Bumble and bumble, Aesop, living proof. It's clearly a budget ingredient, but not any of the obvious ones like SLS. Also worse with softened water. Weird.

[aquamarine85]

Awww gutted you haven't found anything thanks for replying I will have to continue on my quest haha

[JemimaTiggywinkle]

Ah it’s lovely that you’re still around 6 years later!
Have either of you tried a bar shampoo?