Help me find my allergy

[brandur]

So in my latest order, I received Musgo Real shaving cream and aftershave balsam. I also just received Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet shaving cream. I came home from a hiking trip, and shaved around 5 P.M. I used the Penhaligon's and Musgo Real aftershave balsam. For some reason my skin felt really weird, and I could NOT get a close shave at all. The next morning my face was extremely itchy and my lips were pretty much one big cold sore. It's very very uncomfortable and is driving me crazy 24/7. I've also only had 1 cold sore in my entire life. I started taking a ton of Lysine to help with my lips.

Anyways, I figured it was an allergic reaction to lanolin in the Musgo AS, but I looked on the package and it did not list lanolin. Does anyone know if the Penhaligon's or the Musgo Real AS have anything in them that people are frequently allergic to so I can figure which one to ditch? I would test each one individually but I reaaaally don't want to go through this again.

Thanks everyone!!

 

[Jaymo]

Check for an of the parabens. Propylparaben, methylparaben, etc. I'm allergic to them. You could always get a patch test from an allergist. That will tell yo what skin allergies you have.

 

[don.putnick]

You mentioned you just came home from a hiking trip and you couldn't get a close shave. What condition was your skin in from the hike? You could have roughed up your skin even more trying to get a close shave. At that point, you opened yourself up (literally) to chemical irritation.

In other words, it could just as easily be a bad chemical irritation as an allergy.

 

[HoratioCaine]

Don has a good point. Were you sunburned? A sunburn can mess up your shave, leave your skin more sensitive to irritants, and, if bad enough, can also bring on cold sores, provided you already have the virus in your system. Any chance you came into contact with any plants on your hike that might have induced a reaction? Just a thought.

Otherwise, I'm hard-pressed to know what it might be. Most creams have parabens, so if you've used other paraben-containing creams without issue, it's not that. I've not used Blenheim Bouquet cream, but I find Douro cream is a bit irritating, which I attribute to the fragrance. However, I've never experienced anything like you did. Your reaction is serious enough that it would warrant a trip to a dermatologist and/or allergist if you keep suffering from it.

 

[brandur]

Thanks for the suggestions, it could possible be something from the trip since we slept outside in a tent in the middle of a national forest, but I'm not sure that would affect my lips and nothing else. And also I play tennis and it is pretty much impossible for me to get sun burned. I got a few bites on my legs that are itching but nothing like my face. It is more of my lips than my face also.

If possible can someone list the ingredients for Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet cream? I bought it off B/S/T so I don't have the box it came in and can't find it anywhere on the internet. It would be a great help

Thanks again everyone

 

[don.putnick]

I've been on a trial-and-error quest for a shaving cream that doesn't burn after the first pass. Today I took on the project of web-searching for cosmetic irritants. Here's a list of the major offenders I've found so far:

Fragrances
PEG-7 glyceryl cocoate
PEG-14M
Butylparaben
Methylisothiazolinone
Methylparaben
PEG-8
PEG/PPG-14/14 Dimethicone
Triethanolamine
Ethylparaben
Propylparaben
Sodium Laureth Sulfate

The ones that popped up most frequently are:

Fragrances
Methylparaben
Triethanolamine
Propylparaben

As usual, YMMV.

FWIW, my trial-and-error success story so far has been Alba Botanica unscented, which only has one of the irritants.

 

[HoratioCaine]

I don't know the BB cream ingredients. I will take this opportunity, however, to voice my longheld belief that commerce laws need to be changed to require online vendors to post complete ingredients lists for any grooming products they sell. The point of putting ingredients on the outside of packaging is to allow a potential purchaser to inspect the ingredients prior to purchase. Now, with the Internet, that is not possible in many instances. The old laws are outmoded, and need to be modified to keep up with the times.

 

[Sue]

I don't know the BB cream ingredients. I will take this opportunity, however, to voice my longheld belief that commerce laws need to be changed to require online vendors to post complete ingredients lists for any grooming products they sell. The point of putting ingredients on the outside of packaging is to allow a potential purchaser to inspect the ingredients prior to purchase. Now, with the Internet, that is not possible in many instances. The old laws are outmoded, and need to be modified to keep up with the times.

Absolutely! The current requirement of "descending order" should apply to all but it doesn't.
Sue

 

[Gustav]

Sodium laureth Sulfate and sodium lauryl sulfate really dry out my skin. They seem to be very commonly used in cosmetics. Anti-oxidants such as orthotolyl biguanide can also cause serious burn.

For your lips, you might want to go to the chemists and pick up some lip-compeeds (at least in Europe it is a brand of artificial skin). I have not used them myself on the lips but when I am doing a lot of walking and I get blisters, a compeed keeps me going.

 

[luvmysuper]

A sleeve brushed against poison Ivy, poison oak, poison sumac or any of the myriad irritants out there in the wild world and later in contact with the face (wiping away sweat for instance) might have transmitted just enough of the irritant to give you your symptoms.

If you are convinced it is some of the product you used, try a tiny amount of each applied to the tender skin on the inside of your forearm close to the elbow and see if you have any reaction at all.

A more risky way is to use one of the products at a time in a process of elimination, bearing in mind that if you find the guilty product, you're likely to have another reaction like you have now, which doesn't seem like such a good idea.

Barring that, a trip to an allergist for testing is about all you can do.

 

[Sue]

A sleeve brushed against poison Ivy, poison oak, poison sumac or any of the myriad irritants out there in the wild world and later in contact with the face (wiping away sweat for instance) might have transmitted just enough of the irritant to give you your symptoms.

If you are convinced it is some of the product you used, try a tiny amount of each applied to the tender skin on the inside of your forearm close to the elbow and see if you have any reaction at all.

A more risky way is to use one of the products at a time in a process of elimination, bearing in mind that if you find the guilty product, you're likely to have another reaction like you have now, which doesn't seem like such a good idea.

Barring that, a trip to an allergist for testing is about all you can do.

Good suggestion, rub a very small amount into the clean dry skin of your inner elbow. Check it periodically. If no redness, irritation or any difference appears after 24 hours, you can most likely eliminate it as a source.

Also some scents; cinnamon, cherry, spice, almond and lime are well known irritants to some individuals. Does the fragrance description include any of these notes?
Sue

 

[don.putnick]

Thanks Sue for joining in on this thread. It's always better to hear from someone who knows what she's talking about than just relying on stuff posted on the Internet.

 

[Sue]

Well, I don't know about that but a couple of my grandkids have allergies and it's difficult to pinpoint the offender sometimes. Products without ingredients are something their parents avoid.
Sue