Possible 'reaction' to EVOO- Advice urgently required and appreciated.

[Sylvestrix]

Alrighty, I have one of those 'me' questions that pop up once in a while (and may turn out to be ridiculous), but for the first time in almost a decade of mucking about with my hair, I'm having a panic.

I decided to try an EVOO treatment for the first time tonight, and dutifully coated my strands in it, giving myself a lovely scalp massage in the process. About ten minutes later, my scalp started to feel a little tingly, but I assumed it was just because my hair was being moved around much more than it's used to. Shrug, no biggie.

But now, sitting around twenty minutes after first applying to my scalp, my skin feels incredibly peculiar, almost numb-but-not-numb, and I feel like the sensation is spreading down my face. My forehead, nose and upper lip all seem to have this strange sensation, and it's not something I've encountered before (except once, on very strong painkillers, but I doubt it's related since EVOO is oil, and not a chemically painkiller. Eyeroll at useless tangential information).

This has never happened to me; not with chemical dyes, not with conditioners, not with anything. So understandably, I'm starting to panic a little. Is this some kind of reaction, or am I just going a bit mental? Any advice would be appreciated- I would just wash the stuff out to reassure myself, but helpfully our water has been cut off and won't be brought back on until mid morning >.<

Sorry for starting a new thread just for this, but I so rarely panic about my hair that I felt the need to get this out there.

[Kyaatje]

I'm sorry ! Sadly I have no advice atm. Is it pnly the feeling or do you see redness ?

[Sylvestrix]

As far as I can see my scalp is normal, and my face certainly looks its usual self. It's just such a strange sensation that it's got me a bit tizzy- but now you've mentioned it, it is more likely a reaction would come with redness, isn't it? Hm. I think part of my problem is I've never actually had a reaction to anything before, so I don't actually know what it feels like. This in my brain apparently means that any strange sensation=panic!

[Kherome]

If there is no redness, blotches or swelling I doubt you're reacting. Do you eat olives or olive oil?

[Kyaatje]

And panic can highten strange sensations ! So maybe it would be an idea to have some relaxing tea or do something to take your mind off ?
Heavy oiling can make your scalp a bit warmer and massaging helps with bloodflow so maybe that is the sensation ?
If it would become really painful, can you contact a friend so you can wash it out at their place ?

[Sylvestrix]

If there is no redness, blotches or swelling I doubt you're reacting. Do you eat olives or olive oil?

I do, I eat them both in copious quantities actually, which is another reason I'm so confused =/ I've had contact dermatitis flare up from touching onions before, yet I can eat them- my body is a freak, which is probably why I'm having a wee panic instead of being normal, heh. Definitely no swelling, and I can't see redness or blotches- hopefully I'm just being dim, which would be reassuring!


And panic can highten strange sensations ! So maybe it would be an idea to have some relaxing tea or do something to take your mind off ?
Heavy oiling can make your scalp a bit warmer and massaging helps with bloodflow so maybe that is the sensation ?
If it would become really painful, can you contact a friend so you can wash it out at their place ?

Very true! I've actually just opened my windows, and though it's freaking freezing, I do feel a little better. I think I my thought process may have been 'Oh, that feels odd.' -> 'Oh, that still feels odd, let's worry about it a little bit' ->'Wait, my head never feels odd, PANIC'. Urgh.
Now feeling more than a little awkward about unnecessary freaking out. I think I've read too many 'horror stories' about people reacting to things they put on their heads! Thanks to you both, and sorry for being a bit of a dramatic worrywart!

[SleepyTangles]

I'd say to wash it out immediatly, even if it may be just panic. I second Kherome questions, can we exclude an allergy to olives?

[neko_kawaii]

A panic attack by itself can make your face feel numb, and lead to further panic. *sigh* I dunno which is the chicken and which the egg.

[Sylvestrix]

I'd say to wash it out immediatly, even if it may be just panic. I second Kherome questions, can we exclude an allergy to olives?
I would prefer to wash it out even though I think I may just be over worrying, but unfortunately our water is off, and it's late here, so I can't hop a bus over to a friends to give myself a scrub unfortunately. My timing for experimenting is awesome.

I'm fairly sure I'm not allergic to olives- I eat a lot of olives, and olive oil- but as I said I can actually eat onions, but when the juice touches the skin on my hands I end up with tiny dry blisters, which has never been satisfactorily explained to me other than 'it's contact dermatitis and it's fine'. I think this is what contributed most to my worry, because my skin has reacted strangely before to things I can eat without any particular issues o.o


A panic attack by itself can make your face feel numb, and lead to further panic. *sigh* I dunno which is the chicken and which the egg.

I have been prone to panic attacks for some time, it just struck me as odd that the numbness seemed to come before I actually started worrying about it =/ I don't think my getting myself into a worry about it helped at all- like Kyaatje said, it may well have been just the blood flow in my scalp increasing and the strange sensation of having sort of damp-but-not-damp squishiness against my scalp =S Urgh, I wonder about myself sometimes, I feel mightily foolish now!

[Kyaatje]

sorry I was on the bus before so I couldn't react immediately after my last reply ;-)
Anyway, if you are feeling a bit (or even mightily) foolish ;-) that might mean that it was indeed a panic attack, over worrying and panics can do strange things to your sensations and even to your skin ! I sometimes have that with my nose (don't ask LOL) and it actually becomes slightly red, and only because I think I feel something and then I dò feel something and then ......
Tea and yoga help LOL
I'm sure it will be all right. But if you still feel uncomfortable and it should look red or you see welts forming : rinse your hair with tepid milk. Sound strange (and will smell something awful by the time you are able to wash, so I didn't suggest it earlier) but milk counters allergic reactions, so put a bowl in the sink and just rinse and reuse until you feel it cools down a bit. But as I said since you can't wash immediately after, it will start to stink ;-)

[Mandie]

If you were reacting it would be visible, redness/blotches/swelling. The lack tells me if you are reacting it's a very mild skin reaction. So there's probably no reason to panic but I'd say rinse it out and find another oil for a time. If you were having a reaction it may be best to avoid your allergen for a while.

[chen bao jun]

I hope you have rinsed it out.
I have a friend who is allergic to olive oil, so its possible. And I've panic attacks and I NEVER heard of one happening like that. I think if you had a panic attack, it was after the strange sensation, it wasn't the strange sensation.
Also, people sometimes eat/use things a lot and then become allergic suddenly. It happened to me with shellfish--I ate it all the time for 25 and then boom! one day, ambulance, hospital, emergency room. I forget the science behind it, but I think one rarely has the allergy attack the first time exposed to the substance--first your body is introduced and THEN realized it doesn't like it.
Do not mess around with allergies, people die. The reactions get stronger. Just leave olives alone, I wouldn't even eat them anymore if I were you. Better safe than sorry. there is also allegy testing, of course--but I'd leave alone until you can get to a dr. Other things make your hair nice. Like for instance, coconut oil and if that's not good, avocado also penetrates the hairshaft like the first two do.

[Sylvestrix]

sorry I was on the bus before so I couldn't react immediately after my last reply ;-)
Anyway, if you are feeling a bit (or even mightily) foolish ;-) that might mean that it was indeed a panic attack, over worrying and panics can do strange things to your sensations and even to your skin ! I sometimes have that with my nose (don't ask LOL) and it actually becomes slightly red, and only because I think I feel something and then I dò feel something and then ......
Tea and yoga help LOL
I'm sure it will be all right. But if you still feel uncomfortable and it should look red or you see welts forming : rinse your hair with tepid milk. Sound strange (and will smell something awful by the time you are able to wash, so I didn't suggest it earlier) but milk counters allergic reactions, so put a bowl in the sink and just rinse and reuse until you feel it cools down a bit. But as I said since you can't wash immediately after, it will start to stink ;-)

Definitely feeling foolish, mostly because I came on here and did my dramallama bit xD Thankyou for being so nice and understanding! It seems to have chilled out a bit, but if I start to wibble again I think I may actually try the milk thing, if only because I have some milk that's going off tomorrow anyway xD I'll live with my milky head, I'm sure I've had worse smells, and it'll be worth it to keep me from having a silly moment! You are a star, thankyou again!


If you were reacting it would be visible, redness/blotches/swelling. The lack tells me if you are reacting it's a very mild skin reaction. So there's probably no reason to panic but I'd say rinse it out and find another oil for a time. If you were having a reaction it may be best to avoid your allergen for a while. Panic is subsiding, thanks for all the advice! I think I'll avoid oils on my scalp from now, unless of course the results are so breathtakingly wonderful that it turns out to have been worth having a brain spazm and making a fool of myself! xD

[Kyaatje]

So did you end up using the milk ? And how is your hair now ?

[krustallos]

Probably it won't be really useful to say it now that's all (hopefully) over; but, personally, I always feel slightly better, when something weird happens, and I discover someone else had similar experiences, just because it makes you feels less weird, I suppose.

Well, I've never had such reactions from olive oil, either eating or putting it to the hair, but I've a kind of hyper-sensibility to chemical stuff in general, in a way that I can barely take any medicine and have even been to the hospital because of very silly stuff that weren't suppose to cause any reaction whatsoever.
My skin is also very sensible to chemicals, to the point than even some soaps for babies can give me terrible irritations and itches. And quite often I've experienced a reaction like the one you described, in which no signals of a real serious reaction appear, but a strong sensation around the area ensues and just doesn't stop! And sometimes with stuff that usually I'm fine with, but at that moment, for some reason, behaves differently.

For example, I eat a lot of spinach, it's one of my favourite foods. I eat strong spinach soups that some other people find even kind of revolting for how strong it is, and even pesto with raw spinach, and never experienced any bad reactions. But not rarely, when I'm picking the leaves and there are amongst them some more older leaves, already darker and shrinking, I feel a terrible itching in my hand for several minutes later.
Garlic, also, is something I eat all the time, sometimes even raw (mashed into something, not munching raw cloves!), but it's happened a couple of times that without any difference in the outside of it, something in there was different and it causes my finger that touched it a very weird sensation, even kind of numb-y like you described.

So, what I'm saying is, olive oil changes a lot chemically speaking: try smelling deeply some of it once you open a bottle, and doing the same thing a few weeks after it's been opened. It's completely different! Also, since you mentioned that you had bad reaction to medication it is possible that you have a sensibility similar to mine. And putting this together, I'd reckon that it's not like you have an allergy to the thing, or that you just don't go well with it generally - just that perhaps, at that moment, it could have been in a given chemical state that just got to you. It sounds odd, I know, but I have had enough experience with this kind of process to find sense in what I'm saying.
Not that I think it's proven by that - but it's a just theory and, perhaps, may make you feel less weird about the whole ado.

I wouldn't run from the oil from now own like the Devil from the cross: just be a little more careful with it, and perhaps make some tests of reaction.