Newly allergic to hair colour, after 25 years!

[overthinkersanonnymus]

I'm devastated.

The last two times I've had my hair done, I've come out with a rash. First time on the back of my neck, which was like little itchy spots and the second time, my face got what I can only describe as small lines of puffy, red skin.

The strangest thing is though, it takes about 48 hours to start developing.

What can I do! Is taking an antihistamine enough? I'm terrified I'm going to get a chemical burn from the reaction after googling and seeing a poor woman scarred for life after a reaction.

@App13 So I tried the Leganza Bitter Chocolate on a strip of hair. My greys went a golden/brown colour so you were right that I should have bought the Black Tulip, which I will do. Am waiting 24 hours to see if any reaction.

@667TheNeighbourOfTheBeast
I tried the L’Oréal Magic Retouch in Dark Brown which is very, very dark, pretty much black and I didn’t react to that. The only problem is it makes hair a bit stiff and dull and hard to style once applied as it just crumbles off but good for a one night event.

I’ve finally got round to using the Leganza bitter chocolate, just to recap I have ash brown level 5 hair with 15 percent grey maybe 20 max. No root line as haven’t used traditional permanent colour for about 15 months maybe more. I washed my hair first with a non silicone shampoo and didn’t use conditioner. I then applied the Leganza to towel dried hair and left it 40 minutes as was worried it would go too dark. I covered it with plastic hat and then applied heat with hair dryer as my grey is very resistant and heat helps non peroxide colour to take. I was surprised at the results my grey was more or less covered it was very slightly lighter than the rest of my non grey hair and it’s lasted very well. In fact I had a bit of a root regrowth line as it grew out which I wasn’t that happy with as just looks more noticeable. I’m not sure if this is because I applied heat to accelerate the dyeing process. @App13 have you had regrowth line with this ? Overall I was happy, it was very shiny and was only slightly warm toned and even covered patches of grey at my temples. I thought it was slightly too dark for me as I’m late 50s but I’m not sure the light brown would be suitable and some people have said light brown turned their hair green! It did wash out to a better colour for me after two or three washes. I also found this a bit drying as my usually very oily hair didn’t need washing as frequently for a couple of weeks and hair didn’t feel conditioned at all after it so I used usual conditioner.

@667TheNeighbourOfTheBeast No regrowth line, though i use tulip black. as bitter chocolate is way too yellow/orange for my liking.

@App13 i think I might try it again without adding heat. Is the black tulip darker than bitter chocolate ? My hair is very ash toned anyway so the red tones of the Bitter Chocolate are not too bad. It was more noticeable on my grey hair so if there is more grey I can imagine it would look quite reddish. I noticed this at the side of my temples where I have grey patches.

H PPD-avoiders, quick question. Does anyone here with a PPD allergy also react to memory foam, e.g. in pillows or mattresses? I've had a neck and behind-the-ear rash for a while now that I can't get rid of and testing to question everything I'm in contact with!

Its not red and that's the thing , so it works to blend my greys into brunette.

Yes possibly try without heat though I do wear cling film on my head when dying for heat effect

@MaverickBoon I haven’t heard of this but of course it’s entirely possible to react to memory foam etc. I would also be looking at shampoo ingredients as a lot of these are known to be contact dermatitis triggers for some people. Really hard to rule stuff out. Many years ago whenever I went into a clothing shop I would get itchy and runny nose from whatever it was that was on new clothing, I have no idea what it was but there used to be a strong smell in some shops. I presumed it was dye fixative etc. It gradually went away, not sure if they changed the chemicals or I got used to it. So could be any fixatives etc used in dyes or chemicals in manufacturing process. For bedding etc you can look for Okeo-tex labelled products which are certified free from harmful chemicals. This seems to be something that Germany and other European countries do more than the UK but it is possible to buy stuff here. There obviously isn’t a 100% guarantee you won’t react but at least most of the known irritants won’t be there. You can also buy bedding such as pillow protectors and cases for eczema prone skin. Hope you find out what is causing it soon.

Thanks @667TheNeighbourOfTheBeast!

I'm already extremely cautious - I use anti-allergy pillow protectors, wash everything in Fairy non-bio and change my pillowcase every few nights. I'm very cautious about cosmetics/toiletries generally, as I'm sensitive to a couple of other things as well as PPD. So wondering about memory foam is sort of the next step in a long line of amateur/home tests and experiments! I'm going to try without it for a week or too and see if it makes a difference.

Quick update on my hair dye adventures after developing allergies to PPD and TDS... I was originally dark brown but my hair grows fast and silver roots are noticeable after 2 weeks, so I've moved to light brown / dark blonde with highlights, so it blends in easier and I dye roots every 2-3 weeks. So far I've tried:

1. Nature's Grey Busters. Fairly cheap, colour was OK, blended grey in, faded fairly quickly but acceptable as I dye so often. However, on holiday in sun & sea every day it was disastrous - most washed out but left me with a lilac strip at my roots where just one part of the dye had held on!
2. Patrice Mulato Color One . I wanted a 6.0 light brown colour result. Tried 5.0 and 4.0 but though the colour initially looked good it left me with a distinct yellow tone.
3. As a quick stop gap before going out I used some Superdrug Colour Effects wash in, wash out colour. Checked ingredients, no PPD or toluenes, had to be worth a try right? OMIGOD it stained the hair at my temples and sides of my face bright carroty orange. It still hadn't faded after about 4 weeks despite clarifying shampoo & putting Mulato Color One over the top. The colour I tried was either Warm chocolate brown or Rich Dark brown - can't remember which I used but I'm now terrified to ever try that again.
4. Tried to remedy this yellow and orange disaster zone using Mulato Color One 4.0 plus the blue chromatic. It didn't help. My roots were still yellow and temples still orange, but now the top 2 inches of my hair looked gingery.
5. Leganza light brown. Root growth was left yellowy brown, temples still orange, but with the added bonus of a green cast to my highlights, which seemed to deepen after shampooing.
6. Tried dye stripper on a green highlight strand. Seemed to remove the orange and yellow - yayyy! But the length of the strand was even greener than before.
7. After email discussions in French with the Mulato team, they told me to use 3.0 with nothing else, no chromatic etc. Phew. It looks a natural colour, a bit darker than I'd wanted & a tiny touch yellow at the very roots, but at last it looked like normal hair, not comedy student-home-peroxide-experiment hair. I had not applied it through the length though, just to roots for now. Some highlights were still green courtesy of Leganza. Tested one of these strands with Mulato pigment in Cool chestnut and another with pigment Mahogany. The mahogany one came out cherry red and it's actually quite nice as an accent streak but I'd never want that colour over my whole head. The Cool chestnut one... Worked!! Turned the green strand to a nice natural brown.

So it looks like I have a plan!! Lesson learned for me is to do a proper test strand on any colour because I just cannot predict how it's going to look or how long it's going to last (ahem Superdrug "wash in, wash out"!!).

Incidentally I have tried many times since March to contact Elemental beauty for advice on the Patrice Mulato products, by email, phone and contact form, but have never received a reply or an acknowledgement, though I was able to buy products from their site.
Photos attached of before & after latest experiments!

Hmm so I normally go to a hairdresser I've used for years and have had no problem with colour before (permanent). Then I couldn't get an appointment before my holiday so I went to another place, got a patch test 3 days before cut but there was a reaction. Tried another one which reacted to. Tried a home box dye patch test - brand I used in lockdown, another reaction. So I finally started to do some research and found this thread among others. So now I've patch tested Clairol Root Touch Up which I last used 6 weeks ago approx. So far it's not reacted but won't give myself the go ahead until Friday night. Looked at ingredients and no PPD but Toluene and Resorcinol.

TL:DR anyone had any luck with Clairol Root Touch Up? Seems too good of it's ok but no one has mentioned it on here???

Also on an old mumsnet thread someone mentioned John Frieda Precision Foam Colour???

I'm getting my head around having to go grey. Unfortunately my hair is very medium brown and thin. Think I'll be very grey/white

@DivorcedAndDelighted omg that’s a lot of experiments , I’m so glad you managed to get it sorted. Your hair looks nice now and very shiny. So this is the Mulatto no 3 ? I have used this on my hair but because I am about 15 percent grey and mid brown it went very very dark. I’m not sure what is going on at Elementary Beauty as they used to answer emails and phone and there was a lady there called Erica who gave advice on colour etc. I’m very impressed you had a conversation in French about your hair btw! It’s a nightmare with these natural products as they don’t work the same on each person and I think I was told that the Patrice Mulatto color one works with the pigments in your hair. I just tried Leganza bitter chocolate but I don’t think I’m going to use it again as I have a regrowth line and I think this makes it look more noticeable especially as I have a sprinkling of grey right at the crown of my head on very straight hair. So I’ve ordered Patrice Mulatto color one again in no 4. I’m not a spring chicken I’m nearer 60 than 50 and don’t want to go too dark.
@tobee John Frieda precision foam will contain either PTD or PPD. If you’re lucky you might not react to PTD(this is P Toulene btw so take care with any product that says Toulene) about 50 % of people who react to PPD are ok with PTD but extreme caution advised with this test each time. Resorcinol is know to be a potential skin irritant that can cause contact dermatitis. Many many years ago there was a study done that suggested it was a carcinogen, however I believe this was looking at hairdressers who were exposed to it a lot more than average users.

One year in and the leganza truth is coming out !
My hair has yellow streaks , I will need to find one that doesn't do that. Perhaps back to gold well elumen!

I've tried a few other things recently, but I keep going back to Mulato Color One. It doesn't work with pigments in your hair or anything complex like that, it's just dyes but of mainly plant origins. It takes some trial and error getting the colour right. I vary mine between 3, 4 or 5 (mid to light browns) depending on how it's looking. The darker browns have blackberry - type shades in, whereas the lighter ones tend to be yellow or reddish, and this has been the same with all the "natural" colours I've tried. I tried It's Pure henna in several test shades and that was similar but less convenient to use than the Color One.
Note that if you have highlights, things can get more complicated. My highlights went green with the darker natural dyes. I had to dye them reddish then re-dye brown to get rid of that.

I don’t get this with Leganza, I think it’s because I use the bitter chocolate shade which is cool toned. Sometimes I use the cafe latte shade and that is also cool toned.

I had patch tests at an Aveda salon, of their product and another one, a few weeks ago, I didn't react. However, I’ve still not made the decision as to whether to go ahead with getting highlights/lowlights/toner whatever.

Hi I’m interested to know which Aveda product this is please ? A semi permanent?

@App13 oh no sorry to hear that as I think you had previously used this and it had been fine ? I stopped using it as bitter chocolate was too dark for me and I read the reviews and didn’t fancy trying the light brown as everyone said it had a khaki tint! I have been using Patrice Mullatto but not very often, just can’t be bothered with it all. Plus the expense, I bought 2 packs of Tints of Nature Dark Brown henna cream semi permanent as I’ve used this before too and it’s blended in the grey a bit. Just don’t know what I am going to do tbh long term. I did have an allergy test in a very reputable salon who assured me they could do high/lowlights without touching the scalp, but they didn’t come back to me to discuss it after test came back positive but we’re happy to take a booking! I chickened out as felt this was a risk as surely some of the dye would be in contact with the skin. My hair is still only about 20 percent or so grey but this and my natural really ash mouse look awful and really make me feel drab and old.

To those that have just started reaching when you were fine before, it is worth looking into hrt. I became very allergic to many things all of a sudden and didn't know why. I started hrt for other symptoms and once my oestrogen levels were better my allergies also went away. Just in case it helps anyone

I can't remember @667TheNeighbourOfTheBeastz! If I go back I'll ask!

Hmm that is very interesting. I was thinking of talking to the doc about hrt because we have a strong history of osteoporosis and arthritis in the family.

I’m on HRT and have been for years and still got the reaction. But it’s worth a try I guess.

There is a link here about Aveda hair dye if anyone is interested. It looks like it contains PTD(p toluene) instead of PPD. Some people who are allergic to PPD may be able to tolerate this. The article is about permanent colour so I’m not sure if Aveda salons have a semi permanent that’s free of PPD/PTD
ireadlabelsforyou.com/what-is-in-aveda-hair-color-ingredients/

Tints of nature i think has tds in it, which I am again allergic to!

so after al that moaning, i think given Color one is such a faff, i will prob stick to legaza(?), cos this yellow hair is becoming lol.
it kindof compliments my dark browns and may make the transition to full on grey one day easier!

lets see if im still saying this in the future. i am using colour wow to touch up sides and its pretty effective i think.

due to my age, im also shedding loads of hair, like the bath tub is full, my cream bedroom carpet is covered, my hair brushes on combing catch a lot. So I kicked off beef liver capsules and iron, and collagen about 6 weeks ago.and finally i think shedding is slowing. so I think there is only so much hair dying i can do . I too am about 20% grey. and i think its largely due to me not every using ppd box dyes.