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HOTEL, GYM, SPA, AIRLINE AMENITIES: Allergen or Not An Allergen?
Allergen Hotel, Gym, Spa, Airline Amenities You wouldn’t see these items in a patch test tray as such, but so many product amenities given to customers for free (or provided for their use) in hotels, gyms, spas, and airlines are not hypoallergenic and tend to contain lots of top contact allergens. Some popular amenities include […]
QUATERNIUM-15: Allergen or Not An Allergen?
Allergen Quaternium-15 Ever present in standard patch test trays, this popular preservative is a top contact allergen and related to another: formaldehyde (which was the American Contact Dermatitis Society’s Allergen of the Year in 2015). This means that if you’ve patch tested positive to quaternium-15 you should also avoid other formaldehyde-releasing ingredients such as: Quaternium-15 […]
FLOWER EXTRACTS, FLOWERS: Allergen or Not An Allergen?
Allergen Flower Extracts, Flowers Perhaps not all flowers are top contact allergens (butterfly pea flower is an exception, for example) but there are so many that it is prudent to classify them as allergens and best practice to avoid them and their extracts if you have sensitive skin. Many types of reactions Many flowers don’t […]
SULFITES (not sulfAtes): Allergen or Not An Allergen?
Allergen Sulfites (not sulfAtes) Chosen by the American Contact Dermatitis Society as Allergen of the Year in 2024, no less! SulfItes are not SulfAtes First, an important clarification: sulfItes and sulfAtes are different. The simplest distinction is that while sulfates are basically bubble producers and not allergens (but can be irritants, especially at high concentrations), […]
BANDAGES, MEDICAL TAPES, WOUND DRESSINGS, TRANSDERMAL PATCHES: Allergen or Not An Allergen?
Allergen Bandages, Medical Tapes, Wound Dressings, Transdermal Patches So many bandages, plasters, medical tapes, dressings and medical devices contain or are made of top contact allergens. BUT they can be very important for your healing and health: do not avoid them or stop using them without your health practitioner’s guidance. Important: not all skin reactions […]
COLOPHONY (ROSIN): Allergen or Not An Allergen?
Allergen Colophony (Rosin) This top skin allergen comes from the sap of pine, spruce, and other coniferous trees (a residue of the distillation of turpentine). Its stickiness is so useful that it can be difficult to avoid. Where Colophony tends to be present: What else to watch out for: Colophony/rosin in other names like abietic […]
LINALOOL: Allergen or Not An Allergen?
Allergen Linalool This natural fragrance, like limonene, is an allergen on its own, becomes a more potent allergen with oxidation, and is a component of other fragrances. Linalool is found in citruses (lemon, lime, orange) and can be extracted from trees like birch, herbs and spices (lavender, mint, coriander, cinnamon), and over 200 other plants. […]
ESSENTIAL OILS: Allergen or Not An Allergen?
Allergen Essential Oils These popular, delicious smelling oils are extracted from plants (the first red flag) and have been used for centuries as perfumes or components in perfumes (another red flag). The most popular essential oils — cardamom, cinnamon, citronella, clove, eucalyptus, geranium, jasmine, lavender, lemon, mint, orange, rose, sandalwood, tea tree oil, ylang-ylang (and […]
CHEESE: Allergen or Not An Allergen?
Not An Allergen Cheese As with milk and cream, cheese is not a top contact allergen. That said, its allergenicity can be more complicated. Food and skin allergies operate differently. Food allergies are determined by a prick, scratch, or blood test and involve type B cells. Skin allergies are determined by a patch test and type T […]
