Around four years ago, towards the end of my hairdressing training, I started to become severely sensitive towards the products and chemicals that I was using.
I’d never suffered with any kinds of allergies in the past, but as my sensitive skin was such a growing concern I decided to visit the dermatologist for a patch test.
Results showed that I’d developed allergies to a number of chemicals that I’d frequently been using during my intensive training.
The main problem here was Paraphenylenediamine (PPD) a chemical widely used in permanent hair dye.
All off a sudden I’d developed allergies that left me having to contemplate giving up something I was so passionate about.
But as failure isn’t an option in my book, I stuck through my training, qualified and began to build my own clientele in Todmorden where I could determine the quantity of business and hand-pick the products that were kinder to my skin.
The seriousness of my allergies wasn’t entirely realised until one night out with my friends.
I started to feeling very agitated as my face began to feel tighter and tighter.
It wasn’t until I came back in the middle of the night that I realised that my face was starting to look very swollen. The next morning I woke up with a very swollen face and I thought I was going to look like that forever. It took a trip to A&E and a whole load of steroids to bring down the inflammations.
It turned out that the sponge I applied my make-up with contained latex, something that I’d shown up sensitive to in the patch test, but had always used before.
It’s something that has illustrated to me the importance of allergy tests within the beauty industry.
No matter how many times you’ve dyed your hair, had your lashes tinted or even had permanent lashes glues in, your body can defy it at any given time.