Allergy Questions, Allergies and other reactions to oils

[Fulltiltredhead]

Marty, if you're quite serious about there being even the vaguest possibility of dying from perfume oils, I think you'd better not wear any, don't you? Seems like truly playing with fire ...

 

Cinnamon and other skin irritants can sometimes be managed by wearing lotion under your BPAL - or by diluting your BPAL to make a cologne spray. Often, too, if you just wait a bit, a welt raised by cinnamon will go away on its own. I know my Snake Oil stings me when I put it on right after an exfoliating shower, but the sting goes away in just a few minutes.

 

That's a surface irritation, though, not an allergic reaction.

 

I would not take a chance on a severe histamine reaction.

 

Have you tried Madini oils? http://madini.com/

 

They have some nice single notes ...

 

I doubt that Beth would list all her ingredients. No perfumer does that.

[judas_kiss]

I doubt that Beth would list all her ingredients.  No perfumer does that.

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This is very true. You may get a list of "notes", but most of the time the listing is some sort of alchohol, colorant and "fragrance" when dealing with commercial perfumes. I'm sure it can get quite frustrating for you.

 

Marty, I agree with the others in you could try e-mailing the lab directly with a full list of things you are allergic to and another list of the perfumes you are interested in trying. It may take a bit for them to reply, but I'm sure they will be happy to help you.

 

I also agree that it may be in your best interest to try some single notes. You can try the Swaps Thread and see if anyone has any of the BPAL single notes up for swap.

 

Good luck!

[spark]

I also agree that it may be in your best interest to try some single notes.  You can try the Swaps Thread and see if anyone has any of the BPAL single notes up for swap.

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Of course even some of the single notes are bouquets. This is a tough situation.

[judas_kiss]

Of course even some of the single notes are bouquets. This is a tough situation.

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Ah, I didn't even think of that. Too true too true. I think it would just be best to e-mail the lab directly. Especially if your allergies are so violent and could cause you distress. Better safe than sorry.

[ivyandpeony]

Yeah, Andra did bring up a valid point... I am kind of surprised you haven't been scared off of perfumes and fragranced products, period, Marty,since it's so hard to ascertain exactly what's in them. Have you considered obtaining pure essential oils that are guaranteed to contain nothing but that particular plant (as opposed to fragrance oils) and making your own perfumes, or scenting your own products, with those? Might be fun, definitely would be safe...

[pkwench]

To have a severe reaction that could cause death as you suggest would put me off perfumes. Honestly, death or smells? It's not that much of a choice. In regards to the other things mentioned regarding deathly allergies, you know, you just HAVE to be proactive. If you have an allergy to nuts that could cause your throat to swell, your lungs to close, and other fun things that lead to death, you MUST be tooling around at all times with the appropriate medication should you suffer reaction. Honestly, you're just playing games with your life if you don't. Again, the only way to deal with any of this is to be proactive. Email and explain the situation if you absolutely must have a perfume. Asking them to change the presentation of their site might be a tad much, in my opinion. I know how serious it is to everyone with allergies, both skin and otherwise. But, I think the general opinion is that people with deathly allergies probably aren't going to risk it and/or would just go to the source at the very beginning.

[sigh]

I have emailed BPAL many times in the past, way long ago when they were still selling single notes even, and to this day have never recieved a reply to any of my inqueries. I understand that emailing is the first line of action- but that has up to now, failed. I would much prefer at this point, to be able to take this into my own hands.

 

Just a thought.

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Unfortunately due to server and other email gremlins, there have been several people who think they aren't getting a response to their email when in fact the email response is lost in cyberspace or screened out by an overzealous filter. It's terribly terribly frustrating for both parties - the lab doesn't know their emails aren't getting through and the customer thinks they're being ignored. I simply can't imagine that the lab deliberately wouldn't answer your question(s) as long as they were specific and not just a generally phrased "please give me the entire ingredents list for..." sort of thing. You may want to try an alternate email address if you have access to one.

 

I, for one, can't use my aol email address, but my hotmail address works perfectly. Go figure.

[antimony]

I, for one, can't use my aol email address, but my hotmail address works perfectly. Go figure. [/color][/font]

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What the hell is it with AOL's filters?

 

I was ordering henna from Everyday Mehndi, and they use an AOL account for their primary e-mail. They asked me a question about my order, and I wrote back. AOL did not accept the message for a bizzare reason: they don't accept mail from servers with residential IP addresses, even if they are static IP's. (It's not a hijacked server, a friend of mine runs his own mail server. This is not particularly uncommon. He has a static IP, and I think he technically has "small business" DSL service.)

 

But wait, that's not the best part. Their servers didn't send the message back bounced, or anything, so I didn't know it hadn't gone through until a week later, qmail on my friend's server came back with an error message telling me what error message it got from AOL's server, and that it had been unable to connect.

 

Really, is a bounce too much to ask for?

 

---

 

Note: the people at Everyday Mehendi had no idea I had tried to e-mail them, they just thought I had never written back. After I got the error, I wrote them from my Gmail account, and they got the email just fine.

Edited January 31, 2005 by antimony

[sigh]

What the hell is it with AOL's filters?

But wait, that's not the best part. Their servers didn't send the message back bounced, or anything, so I didn't know it hadn't gone through until a week later, qmail on my friend's server came back with an error message telling me what error message it got from AOL's server, and that it had been unable to connect.

 

Really, is a bounce too much to ask for?

 

---

 

Note: the people at Everyday Mehendi had no idea I had tried to e-mail them, they just thought I had never written back. After I got the error, I wrote them from my Gmail account, and they got the email just fine.

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You would think that as expensive as AOL is, you could get email from whomever you bloody well wanted to, and that they'd have naked Johnny Depp appear on your doorstep to read it aloud to you. (Not to mention act out all the giant penis spam emails. )

 

I asked a friend of mine that works for AOL why they don't send a bounce notice - his response, "the volume is prohibitive". What a load of crap, it's an automated message ffs. I can't get email from the lab, but the people selling potions to give me a penis the size of a baby's arm can send me a dozen messages a day.

 

edited 'cuz i can't spell today

Edited January 31, 2005 by sigh

[Belladonnastrap]

To have a severe reaction that could cause death as you suggest would put me off perfumes. Honestly, death or smells? It's not that much of a choice. In regards to the other things mentioned regarding deathly allergies, you know, you just HAVE to be proactive.

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I don't think Marty isn't being proactive, I mean she said she emailed the Lab and is waiting for a response. Remember, not everyone knows that they happen to have a really shitty server at times.

 

As for wanting to know what's in the stuff....why is this SUCH a bad thing? I have a close friend who is deathly allergic to Camomille (did I spell that right?). Does this mean she can't wear any sort of perfume oil? No. Just means she has to be extra extra careful, I know when the two of us shop together we're constantly looking at the ingrediants list to make sure that there's nothing in there that will have her dead on the floor.

[judas_kiss]

As for wanting to know what's in the stuff....why is this SUCH a bad thing? I have a close friend who is deathly allergic to Camomille (did I spell that right?). Does this mean she can't wear any sort of perfume oil? No. Just means she has to be extra extra careful, I know when the two of us shop together we're constantly looking at the ingrediants list to make sure that there's nothing in there that will have her dead on the floor.

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I don't think it's a bad thing, but I also don't think one can expect a fragrance company to list all of the oils their blends contain on their public website. It's not fair to the artisans who create the oils. I also don't think it's fair to request an entire list of oils in a particular blend for the same reason: the internet is a shady place and shady people might try to copycat their blends. There is no way you could call Chanel and ask them what exactly is in No. 5, they would never tell you. I think it's totally w/in the spirit of fairness to contact a company and say "I'm allergic to A, B, and C, I'm interested in fragrances D, E, and F. Can I safely wear these oils or do they in any way contain the allergens?" That way, you're just watching out for your health and it doesn't sound like you're fishing for a formula or out to make a dupe.

[harlequin]

I would definitely try emailing the lab again, in case your didn't go through to them, or theirs didn't go through to you. I'm sure they'd be more than willing to tell you what has things your allergic to in it, but they might also be able to suggest other things you might want to avoid, too.

 

 

I just have to say I'm thankful that the only think i've ever really had a reaction to is Anesthesia Gas... it's not something you run across very often without knowing about it.

[Belladonnastrap]

As for wanting to know what's in the stuff....why is this SUCH a bad thing? I have a close friend who is deathly allergic to Camomille (did I spell that right?). Does this mean she can't wear any sort of perfume oil? No. Just means she has to be extra extra careful, I know when the two of us shop together we're constantly looking at the ingrediants list to make sure that there's nothing in there that will have her dead on the floor.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I don't think it's a bad thing, but I also don't think one can expect a fragrance company to list all of the oils their blends contain on their public website. It's not fair to the artisans who create the oils. I also don't think it's fair to request an entire list of oils in a particular blend for the same reason: the internet is a shady place and shady people might try to copycat their blends. There is no way you could call Chanel and ask them what exactly is in No. 5, they would never tell you. I think it's totally w/in the spirit of fairness to contact a company and say "I'm allergic to A, B, and C, I'm interested in fragrances D, E, and F. Can I safely wear these oils or do they in any way contain the allergens?" That way, you're just watching out for your health and it doesn't sound like you're fishing for a formula or out to make a dupe.

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Okay yeah I totally agree too. It just seemed to me that people were slamming Marty for wanting to make sure she's not allergic to whatever's in them.

[spark]

It just seemed to me that people were slamming Marty for wanting to make sure she's not allergic to whatever's in them.

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Oh, I didn't think so, and I hope Marty didn't get that impression!

[Scylla]

I don't think it's a bad thing, but I also don't think one can expect a fragrance company to list all of the oils their blends contain on their public website. It's not fair to the artisans who create the oils. I also don't think it's fair to request an entire list of oils in a particular blend for the same reason: the internet is a shady place and shady people might try to copycat their blends. There is no way you could call Chanel and ask them what exactly is in No. 5, they would never tell you. I think it's totally w/in the spirit of fairness to contact a company and say "I'm allergic to A, B, and C, I'm interested in fragrances D, E, and F. Can I safely wear these oils or do they in any way contain the allergens?" That way, you're just watching out for your health and it doesn't sound like you're fishing for a formula or out to make a dupe.

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Very well said, judas_kiss.

 

Belladonnastrap--I don't think anyone was "slamming" Marty, but I think many of us got on the defensive for the Lab when she said she would appreciate "a full list of oils used in each blend." It seemed like asking Mrs. Fields' or KFC to disclose their secret recipes in case someone might be allergic to one of the ingredients--not very likely!

 

The Lab is more likely to respond when asked in the way judas_kiss mentioned, rather than having someone asking for a list of components in each blend.

[judas_kiss]

Okay yeah I totally agree too. It just seemed to me that people were slamming Marty for wanting to make sure she's not allergic to whatever's in them.

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Oh no, not at all. I, for one, am sorry if I came off that way!!

 

I think it's like Scylla said: we're a bit on the defensive b/c we lerve our BPAL and we want to protect the people who spend so much time, effort and money into making it.

[saoirse]

I don't think it's a bad thing, but I also don't think one can expect a fragrance company to list all of the oils their blends contain on their public website.  It's not fair to the artisans who create the oils.  I also don't think it's fair to request an entire list of oils in a particular blend for the same reason: the internet is a shady place and shady people might try to copycat their blends.  There is no way you could call Chanel and ask them what exactly is in No. 5, they would never tell you.  I think it's totally w/in the spirit of fairness to contact a company and say "I'm allergic to A, B, and C, I'm interested in fragrances D, E, and F.  Can I safely wear these oils or do they in any way contain the allergens?"  That way, you're just watching out for your health and it doesn't sound like you're fishing for a formula or out to make a dupe.

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As a perfumer myself, I agree with both sides of the fence. Yes, the buyer has the right to know if an ingredient in a blend could be dangerous to them due to an allergy - but, at the same time, no businesswoman/man in their right mind lists every single note contained in their formula ... especially not on the internet!

 

If your allergies are THAT severe, you really might want to consider making your own perfume blends. Its the safest way and, really, can be quite fun. I was making my own for years for myself and friends/family before beginning to sell them - I could recommend some good books and suppliers to get you started if you're interested.

 

As someone who has a small selection of items available for sale, I would recommend that someone with your problem email me with a list of the notes that are dangerous to them and I would then make a list of "do not try" selections based on that. But, considering the Lab has such a huge selection, that's probably next to impossible! So, what judas_kiss recommended sounds the most logical to me - list your allergries in an email, along with the scents you're interested in buying. I highly doubt that Beth will have any problems with telling you if those scents are safe for you to try!

[pkwench]

No, I wasn't slamming-a bit confused in some regards, but not slamming. I do think it's the responsability of the person with the problem to find out what's going on with a certain blend. If I didn't say it, I completely agree that emailing the lab when things are calm is the best way to go. In regards to the why risk it comment, it was in regard to the general sense that I was getting that some people were suggesting reading the reviews before ordering to see if it contained an item that Marty could be allergic too. That's just too dangerous if the allergies are that severe. Like the peanut butter in the chili, you may not taste/smell it, but it could still be there. Why risk it? I'd go with absolute knowledge first. Emailing the lab. It's just the smart way to go. That and you can do that without suggesting that the lab stop putting up their descriptions in the manner that they do. That, admittedly, ruffled my few feathers a touch. I know the spirit in which it was meant, it just came off badly to me. Anyway, cheers to all-I wasn't pissing, I was just a little "what the heck?" there for a bit.

 

Edited to add: I'm sorry if I came off bitchy earlier. I'm having a pisser of a month and apparently my tongue is sharper than I realize. I hope no one was unduly offended. (And, of course, everyone has a right to perfume. I would certainly never suggest otherwise.)

 

Edited again because I used the "c" word in regards to myself and I tend to forget that people get really wound about that one. Sowwy!

Edited February 1, 2005 by pkwench

[tart]

If your allergies are THAT severe, you really might want to consider making your own perfume blends. Its the safest way and, really, can be quite fun.

Oooh, what a wonderful idea!

[aurianrose]

Question about Gluttony...

 

I would assume from the description that there is hazelnut oil in it. However, I'm pretty damn sure that I have an allergy to hazelnuts (not life threatening, just annoying as I break out into hives). Do you think the oil would cause me to have the same reaction?

 

Just a random question... Wasn't sure if someone else had a similar experience.

[Pixie-elf]

Question about Gluttony...

 

I would assume from the description that there is hazelnut oil in it.  However, I'm pretty damn sure that I have an allergy to hazelnuts (not life threatening, just annoying as I break out into hives).  Do you think the oil would cause me to have the same reaction? 

 

Just a random question...  Wasn't sure if someone else had a similar experience.

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Well, maybe.... is it a CONTACT allergy, or, just if you eat it type?

[angelblue]

i had a fairly severe reaction to czernobog. eyes and nose started burning and i began choking (my airway swells shut) almost immediately. it's the same reaction i get to most colognes. i have to get away from it or i stop breathing. luckily, i'd only tried a little and and was able to get it washed off quickly and i had my inhaler at hand.

[purely_cosmetic]

Sugar Skull made my skin burn, and left a red rash, (albeit an unimpressive one)

 

And gingerbread poppet makes me feel like I can't breathe properly.

[aurianrose]

Well, maybe.... is it a CONTACT allergy, or, just if you eat it type?

 

Um, well... It's funny because it might only be an allergy to Nutella. Problem is, I've never been allergic to chocolate, so we kind of just assumed that it was the hazelnuts in in it. I've avoided them ever since and I've never had a problem.

 

So, I guess it was an eating allergy, not so much a contact allergy...

 

[ivyandpeony]

Aurianrose, don't know what your medical insurance situation is. But if you can afford it, you should see an allergist and try to find out if they can pinpoint your allergy. Here's my little hives story -

 

Last year I had a reaction to something (we suspected peanuts or shellfish) and broke out in hives all over... treated myself at home for 24 hours with Benadryl and Benadryl topical and it wasn't really helping that much, so I finally went to the ER. They were completely freaked out, loaded me up with all sorts of stuff and gave me a prescription for Epi-pens. The doctor told me that it's hives this time, but it could be anaphlytic shock next time. Scared the you know what out of me - although I know they have to over-warn you because of the malpractice situation.

 

So I immediately got an appointment with an allergist and underwent the complete skin-prick test all over my back. Verdict: I'm not allergic to any foods, not peanuts, nuts, shellfish (I was so happy because I love shellfish). So we have no idea what it was that gave me hives! I had a massage on Saturday afternoon... hives started Saturday night... but I had hives in places my massage therapist never touched and she didn't use any essential oils on my body... I have never had a reaction since... so my allergist told me not to worry, sometimes these things just happen and you don't know why.

 

But, if YOU are truly allergic to hazelnuts, you could also be allergic to other nuts like macadamias or even trees in the same family, you could have a major reaction if exposed to them in the future (even unknowingly). So that's why I was going to suggest you try to find out if you can. It's just much better to know, than not to know.