One woman found herself in pain and temporarily blind after her face swelled from having an allergic reaction to hair dye.
Steph O’Dell, a 24-year-old from Milton Keynes, England, went to a salon to get her hair done ahead of her sister’s birthday trip to Amsterdam. Knowing that she was allergic to paraphenylenediamine (PPD), a common ingredient in hair dye, she made sure to notify the hairdresser.
She was assured that the dye was organic and that it would not even touch her scalp.
Steph left the salon happy with how her hair turned out, but the next day when she and her sister flew out to Amsterdam, her face had started to swell up. Within 48 hours after getting her hair done, her head had swollen up so large that she could no longer see.
Left “blind and terrified,” Steph had to fly back home for urgent treatment at the hospital, where nurses were worried about her breathing as her neck continued to swell.
Luckily, after receiving treatment for what doctors said was the worst reaction they’d ever seen, Steph’s face and neck finally returned to normal and she could see again.
Steph is warning others to always do a patch test, regardless of if you’re using organic products. “Manufacturers can change the ingredients in products at any time.”
