As a teenager around the age of 14 I experimented with hair dyes, and again at 17, never did the allergy test and never had a reaction and never worried about it. In my early 20’s I regularly got my hair highlighted, sometimes friends did it for me or sometimes at a salon, then at 22 I was platinum blonde, honey blonde, bright red and then I settled on a plum colour for a while when I was 23, then I dyed it light brown, dark brown and then black. By the time I was 24 my natural colour had grown back so I just left my hair as it’s natural colour. When I was 29 I put a brown box dye on it, as I started to notice one or two greys and I wanted to make it shinier.When I was 30 I dyed my hair golden brown, I always did the allergy test (I never bothered when I was younger) never had a problem and never worried about it. Throughout my 30’s I used Naturtint and rotated the colours. I dyed my hair every 3 months (if I remembered) and never had a problem. We went into lockdown when I was 37 and I stopped dying my hair as no need. When we came out of lockdown I was 39 and I dyed my hair on holiday. By October you could see quite a few greys (had never been a problem before) so I dyed it again. In January 2022 I dyed it using Naturtint once a month and never had a problem. I booked in to have it highlighted but had become increasingly worried about being allergic to things (even though I had never been allergic to a hair dye, and had the allergy test). I had developed an anxiety disorder. Because of my anxiety, I didn’t get it done, I think other things in my life were starting to get to me at this stage. Not long after that I had Covid-19 – and I finally dyed my hair again using a box dye in June. Later that day I felt a slight burning sensation on my scalp and my hands were swollen and irritated where I had handled the dye. This worried me as I had never had a reaction before. It wasn’t severe, but I worry that it indicates that I could potentially develop a severe reaction. It seemed really ironic that I would actually develop an allergy after worrying about allergies when I hadn’t been allergic to it before. I then turned 40, I am now at the age where I need to dye my hair as I am starting to get a lot more greys. I’m scared to use hair dye, so I tried using coffee and food colouring. It lasted about a day, so didn’t really work. Not long after that, after going through a really stressful time in my life I began to suffer from anxiety and panic attacks that got worse and worse and became severely debilitating. My anxiety was mainly about a fear about having an allergic reaction and going into anaphylaxis. So, I became anxious around food, drinks, products, you name it I had become scared of it. I also had health anxiety and panic attacks in general and I became almost agoraphobic. I sought help for anxiety towards the end of last year as it had got completely out of hand. I’d had some kind of breakdown due to a lot of things I was going through. Please no judgement. This year I have been having help for anxiety, which has really helped with everything else however, I have been terrified to dye my hair so haven’t dyed it for a full year. I’m self-conscious about the greys, and it’s getting me down. I have always looked young for my age, but now I have grey hairs and am scared to or can’t use hair dye, it’s a real sense of loss of identity. I know that sounds really over the top but I’m not happy about being in my 40’s really as I’m nowhere near where I want to be in life, it’s not just about the hair dye. I can't just let myself go grey. I tried this Henna powder stuff – didn’t like it and had bad reviews and couldn’t bring myself to use it, threw it out as I didn’t want the powder getting everywhere, it was triggering my fear of allergies. Then I tried a patch test for just a normal box dye. 24 hours later, no redness, itching or swelling, however I was aware of an achy/burny feeling in the arm I put it on but wasn’t sure if I was imagining it. Not sure if I have a slight burning sensation or not. I think, if in doubt, don’t. My next step will be to try one that does not contain PPD but there just doesn't seem to be one that exists. I think I may need to speak to an immunologist, maybe they can test to see if I am allergic to any ingredients in hair dye, before I proceed further. Does anyone know any safe PPD free hair dyes. I just don't know what to do, my family/friends just think I'm being silly, and that I should just get over it and dye my hair, but they don't seem to understand how life-threatening a hair dye allergy can be. I just don't know what to do and I can't just walk around with grey hair. It's making me feel unattractive.