Ever found out you're allergic to a shampoo/conditioner?

[divinedobbie]

I've gone through four bottles of Tressemme Naturals conditioner and didn't have a clue until this weekend. I guess it's because the conditioner only really went on my ends and never made contact with skin. Whenever I do SMT's though, I use this condish because it's silicone free. And every time I washed out my SMT, I had a big shed but I attributed it to prolonged wet scalp etc. I never did SMT's very often anyway so I didn't correlate it. This weekend I was doing an SMT and the conditioner got on my arms but this time I didn't rinse it off for a while. When I did, my oh my, angry red skin!

I've narrowed it down to about 5-6 ingredients (process of elimination based on other shampoos/conditioners my skin didn't react with). The irony is that I had just finished the last drop in the bottle when I figured it out.

Please share your stories :)

[hananabread]

My scalp had a terrible reaction to a Lush shampoo bar that I was gifted. My scalp seems to be picky. I still have not been able to make it happy after trying different LHC tips for over a year!
I'm sorry about your reaction. I'm glad that you were able to narrow down the ingredients to prevent it happening in the future.

[Hairkay]

I have to stay away from all of them.

[Natalia]

Yup when my health got worse my immune system went nuts. Cant go near sulfates anymore, nothing with neem which is alot of things these days, latex (shea, avocado oil, ect..), nothing gluten including keratin and when germ items, cant handle certain coconut surfectants either, no nut oils, no petroleum, no silicones, its along list

[Nadine <3]

Oh yes. I'm fine with Tresseme Naturals condish, but I had a terrible reaction to the shampoo. The worst though was a l'oreal product that broke me out in hives on my scalp and all down my back and arms.

[divinedobbie]

I'm like 90% sure im allergic to Methylchloroisothiazolinone (and) methylisothiazolinone. They're preservatives. All the shampoos/conditioners that I reacted with contained that. The only shampoo I didn't react with, didn't have those ingredients. The good news is that it doesn't give me a rash unless I keep it on my skin for atleast 10-15 minute so just using it in shampoo and conditioner that I rinse off should be fine. The only reason I reacted so badly is because I was using that conditioner as a deep treatment and left it on my hair for 40-60 minutes every time.

Anybody else know/have a guess as to which ingredient it is that they are allergic to? (Unless you can't tolerate basically everything)

[Rosetta]

Weirdly enough, I've had worse reactions to shampoo and conditioner than hair dyes...! (Though I've still stopped using the latter, as I know now I'm prone to allergic reactions so I'm sure it was just a matter of time till I had one...)

One I remember was EO products Coconut & Hibiscus conditioner, which is supposed to be all-natural. (Well, in fact those are often worse for reactions...)
Unfortunately I couldn't narrow it down to any ingredient(s), as it has so many... But I guess I have to start paying very close attention to any products that give me such reactions, and at least try to narrow it down.

One ingredient I have noticed I'm allergic to is grapefruit, in any product that comes in contact with skin (funnily enough I can still eat them!).

[tigereye]

Sulphates and fragrances are the two big ones for me. SLS is the biggest for me - they say you can't be allergic to it, but my hives say otherwise. The fragrance is nigh on impossible to figure out because everybody is so secretive about what they put in stuff.
I also react to nickel, pine nuts, and possibly one of my cats (though I don't know for sure because my current GP "doesn't believe in allergy testing" :rolleyes: )

[ExpectoPatronum]

I can't use Herbal Essences anymore. I break out in hives on my face. :( Such a shame...their stuff smells so good!

I'm allergic to just about everything. I can't even use cetaphil without my face burning.

[aurorae]

well mine is not a shampoo or conditioner,but a gel.i used the ORS lock and twist gel and had the worst headache ever(not the worst as i suffer from cluster headaches)but close.i didnt guess until the third use.im still tempted to use it,not cos its an amazing product,but just cos i spent money on it.im cheap that way.but the head aches were not a joke

[tigereye]

well mine is not a shampoo or conditioner,but a gel.i used the ORS lock and twist gel and had the worst headache ever(not the worst as i suffer from cluster headaches)but close.i didnt guess until the third use.im still tempted to use it,not cos its an amazing product,but just cos i spent money on it.im cheap that way.but the head aches were not a joke

Maybe give it to a friend? I've given quite a few things away to a friend after finding I couldn't use it.

[aurorae]

oh yes.ill probably give it to my sister. She co-owns all my stuff as well.

[Olavi]

I haven't noticed I would be allergic to shampoo or conditioner, but it wouldn't be too far fetched, since I am allergic to at least one shower gel. My response to having full-body eczema TWICE, was to abandon almost all soaps/shampoos/conditioners/etc. for three years. Now I'm cautiously sneaking back. I even bought a shower soap and a shower oil (and my dad gave me another shower soap) :D