Best detergent for rash prone skin (teen)

[gillywee]

My nearly 16yo daughter has started itching on her legs.
Not all the time, there's been a couple of instances over a few weeks now, but she says it's a really really intense itch, to the point where she gets really upset.
As far as there being anything to see, you can sometimes see a very light sprinkling of very small rashy bumps, but mostly by the time she shows me her legs are all red tramlines from her scratching, but you can see that the skin has irritation.

I don't think it's caused by dry skin irritation and an antihistamine does usually help a little.

She's not changed her body soap, shampoo or any other shower products.

A) any suggestions on the cause?
B) please suggest an allergy friendly detergent so we can rule that out as a first.

Thank you very much in advance

Sounds like a GP or pharmacist needs to have a look.
If it's KP then something with lactic acid, if it's just super dryness then something like Aveeno.
Needs looking at by a professional though.

SurCare products have really helped me. I can also use Tesco non bio liquid without it affecting my skin. Any Persil product (even non bio) will leave me itching constantly.

What trousers does she wear? She may be reacting to an artificial fabric.
What shaving gel/hair remover does she use if she removes her leg hair? Could be that

She's not changed her body soap, shampoo or any other shower products.

Doesn’t matter companies can change ingredients at any time, and you can develop an allergy to anything at anytime so the fact you’ve used the same thing doesn’t mean that can’t be giving you a reaction.

She wears tights and a skirt for school and mostly black leggings out of school.

If she still has the irritation when she comes home, I'll take her to the pharmacy.

I'll look at some sensitive skin products and surcare for washing.
We already use aveeno.
She does shave, I'll ask her about what she uses. I did buy her some kit for that but it's just occurred to me that she's not asked for more so she might have bought something herself.

Thanks 😊

DD age 8 has this sort of rash, on her thighs/bum but mainly inner thighs, and has had it for YEARS 😭

I have tried all the surcare etc they didn’t help

We have had steroid creams and moisturisers/emollients from dr which help the symptoms a little but it never goes away

I got one of those shower water softener attachments (we have hard water) which seemed to help, thought it was a breakthrough, but has stopped helping

I’m at my wits end so am following for any ideas. At the moment we are giving DD piriteze at bedtime which is not ideal long term obviously

It seems to go away when we go stay somewhere else - does this happen with your DD’s rash OP? And do you have hard water?

It might be the material of the tights or leggings.

Oh no minipie, that sounds difficult. Your poor dd.
We're further north and soft water, so I don't think it's that.
I suppose we're just at the start of a long process of elimination to see if anything helps.
Thank you for all of your input though, all things to think about.

One of my DDs had similar to yours and OP and it was the uniform trousers that did it. Allergy to artificial fabrics. I had to get her 100% cotton trousers that matched as best I could and a doctors note for being slightly out of uniform.

The shaving gel was me, my favourite brand changed their ingredients and I ended up with what I thought was razor burn every time I shaved. It wasn’t it was the shaving foam.

Thanks Isla, I will see what we can do about testing the fabrics. I think it's supposed to warm up so I'll send her in bare legs and socks to see if that helps.

It’s like being a detective really to solve these sort of rashes. Good luck finding the cause.

Thanks Isla. The rash does get worse when she wears tights, I thought it was due to the seams but maybe I will buy her the uniform trousers and see if that helps. Her winter tights are mostly cotton though. And the rash is still there in the summer - so not sure it’s that. yes it is a long long process of trial and error, glad you solved yours!

My 23 year old dd has this, I buy her free from everything sensitive washing powder /liquid from boots, after total desperation we paid for private allergy testing and the results came bk only yesterday and there's a lot on there she should avoid including dairy, oats and oat products, mango ect so going to avoid those things on list to see if there's a difference she also switched to silk bedding as its softer on her skin, its horrible to watch her in discomfort. Hope this helps x

If it's only on her legs and she's started shaving them then I think that might be the cause. Check she has clean razors and what specific products she uses. Soap, water or shaving foam. Any moisturiser afterwards?

My DD as a child used to have unexplained rashes. We tried different detergents including Fairy biological. The only one that worked for her was Daz powder.

Pp was right though . Check to see if any of her products have a different recipe now. Plus it could be her tights/trousers reacting to a warm classroom. Half-term is coming up so hopefully that will give her legs a decent break for you to see if it's uniform related. Hunting down rash causes can send you slightly insane, good luck!

minipie
We actually have similar to you and think it goes away a bit more when are away too (we could be clutching at straws) so have started cleaning the room to within an inch of it's life and now seriously thinking of changing mattress (always changing sheets). Best of luck, it's so hard, we live on antihistamines! Op, I took a weird dislike to fairy when we tried it again recently, we usually use persil or any non bio really as are trying to find something that stands out! Best of luck

It may be a food allergy.
Ds had similar to this at 17 and we found out he'd become allergic to eggs.
He still sometimes gets a mild reaction to something but finds Aveeno cream & Dermol lotion to wash with really soothing.