Nose being intermittently tortured by conditioner

[cimorene]

I need a new brand of moisturizing conditioner, unless I explore buying some kind of leave-in or deep conditioning treatment, so I tried a sample of an expensive Swedish brand that's SUPPOSED to be primarily blueberry, but smells disgusting.

I'm allergic (throat closing allergic) to at least one perfume, and my nose is oversensitive to a lot of perfumes. This means I find the smell of some perfumes (maybe half?) super unpleasant - they make me choke and gag because it feels like I can't breathe if I'm trapped with them, like they're attacking my brain painfully through my sinuses. Just walking by someone wearing fresh or lots of perfume only produces a brief spell of coughing if it's one of the perfumes I'm sensitive to, not like, a huge emergency. Sucks on the bus though.

I'm very fond of the botanical scents (esp. lemongrass) of L:a Bruket's shampoos and conditioners, but they're not sulfate-, silicone-, and paraben-free, so I'm sampling other domestic (and Swedish) small brands.

Anyway, this brand was SUPPOSED to be blueberry, but it's some sort of musk. It smells like incense from one of those crunchy shops that sells tie dye and hemp shirts and piercing jewelry and Indian cotton skirts and pants, but stronger. So maybe it's patchouli?? I don't remember what that smells like. I immediately conditioned again with unscented, but it's been haunting me all afternoon. I'm afraid washing my hair again tomorrow won't banish it.

Comments

[lilysea]

Sympathy; empathy; solidarity.

I have a fragrance allergy - I test positive to allergies to multiple fragrances on a skin patch test as done by the hospital outpatient clinic - but what that means for me is

a) fragrances that other people are wearing in public can give me migraines

b) if I get any fragrance on my skin, I get a really painful rash that takes weeks/months to heal.

But it never ever affects my breathing/throat.

In my case, one of my allergies is Balsam of Peru, which is in SO MANY fragranced products (and never labelled except as fragrance/parfum), so I strictly avoid all scented products.

I was actually wondering when you described the scent that was bothering you whether it could be Balsam of Peru? It's a common allergy for people who are allergic to fragrance

"Balsam of Peru is a sticky aromatic liquid that comes from cutting the bark of the tree Myroxolon balsamum, a tree that is native to El Salvador. The ‘Peru’ part of Balsam of Peru originates from when it was first named, El Salvador then being part of a Peruvian colony. Balsam of Peru smells of vanilla and cinnamon because it contains 60-70% cinnamein (a combination of cinnamic acid, cinnamyl cinnamate, benzyl benzoate, benzoic acid and vanillin). The other 30-40% contains resins of unknown composition. It also contains essential oils similar to those in citrus fruit peel. These are all potential allergens."

[cimorene]

It's fully possible! I've only had the throat-closing reaction like... hm... 4?? times in my life, as a result of getting a faceful of a scented product. Once I had smeared some on my face by mistake (the first time). One of the times the culprit was drinking a cup of herbal lavender tea (which clearly had some other stuff in it, because lavender scented stuff doesn't do this to me, thank goodness - I'd never be able to avoid it completely). The other times it was probably on my hands or something, but I didn't get it washed off well enough and fast enough. My throat doesn't close all the way, but it swells to the point that any time I swallow I can feel the sides touching each other - so it makes eating near impossible and the pain is constant for 2-3 days, until it goes down. I've talked about this with multiple GPs, but because it's happened that rarely, they have never recommended allergy testing. (I do get migraines sometimes, but the exposure has to be somewhat extended for that to happen, like more than just being in an elevator with somebody's perfume for an elevator ride.) Given that that reaction is so rare, it might be impossible to narrow it down well even if I had a list of the products that did it, but at least once the cause was unknown and another time the label was unavailable.

[krait]

My sympathies; fragrance can be a metaphorical headache even when it's not a literal one. I hate that "this will smell like something I enjoy-- ACK ACK ACK, no it does NOT" experience when opening a bottle of something, and it's all too common. D:

I have no allergies as such, thankfully, but am very sensitive to scents and particularly perfumes and cleansers. I'll never forget my deep hatred for the kid who sat on the school bus a row or so behind me, whose cologne was so strong and so horrifically sinus-stabbing that I had a headache by the time we arrived at school many days. My mother is much worse off than me; I clearly got my sensitivies from her, but she's in the 'only unscented laundry soap, personal products, and candles' category, while I enjoy fragrances in all those things as long as they're carefully selected.

I hope you can find a better product that won't include surprise!patchouli or musk; eurgh!


(On a side note, what's with the dearth of citrus-scented conditioners? I can find tonnes of citrus-scented soap, and at least one citrus-scented shampoo - though it purports to be a 3-in-1 "for men" - but citrus conditioners are bizarrely difficult to locate. At least in the Under $4/bottle category that is my hunting ground.)

[cimorene]

I tend to go for unscented products most of the time just because it's simpler. The issue is really NEW scents, but it's so often not practical to smell before you buy... idk.

As for citrus, it's probably because citrus fruit is acidic. I'm sure it's possible to get the smell out and put it in some end result that is not acidic though. Maybe it's just simpler and cheaper to use bits of the citrus that are, uh, closer to their original form? Spitballing here. That could be it, anyway.

[twistedchick]

I think the various scents go through a fashion cycle; I'm currently using up shampoo and conditioner with a very mild jasmine fragrance, but I have to go with unscented when I'm done because I don't trust the other versions. And the throat-closing reaction is anaphylactic, as in death-causing if it becomes more severe; if you have that reaction from anything and it doesn't go away and gets worse, call 911 immediately.

[cimorene]

Yeah, wonder if I should get an epipen or something. I guess the rareness of the exposure makes it unlikely that I'll get a chance to need it, but still.