Health & Beauty Products

When you really start looking into it, sulphur is in almost everything, including health and beauty products. My problem is that if it's not sulphur that's an ingredient, it's a benzoate, and if I had to pinpoint the moment in time when I started to suspect that these two ingredients were causing my acute allergic reaction, it was around the time when I had just changed facial cleansers. I don't think that this was the only cause of my somewhat sudden allergy, but it was the one thing that did change, so that where my suspicions started.

I'm not a chemist and I'm not that knowledgable on chemical ingredients and how each one might react with the other (at least, nothing past the high school chemistry level), so I just assumed that if I could find the ingredients that were in my new facial cleanser that wasn't in my other beauty products, I could narrow down the allergy cause. This exercise took weeks because in the end, it was all variants of sulphur and benzoates, not just the typical SLS or benzoic / benzyl whatever. I remember spending every morning checking for any allergic reaction - whether that meant my skin getting better or worse, because usually it was the most different first thing in the morning. My eyelids were and still are, one of the first to show any allergic reactions, where they will either get slightly dry and bumping, followed by itchy, or they will puff slightly. (Needless to say that on some days, I couldn't tell if they were getting better or worse, as I had lost track of what they should look like.) I gradually started removing products and waiting a day or two to see what the result would be. I removed and changed, absolutely everything - soap, shampoo, conditioner, hair spray, all makeup, moisturisers, etc. The dermatologist I saw strongly recommended that I use the "soap free" washes but guess what? Those have the ingredients that I had already suspected by that stage. I searched all the mainstream brands, including all the eczema soaps and washes, and I was unable to find any brand that I could safely use. (Note that by this stage, I was very exhausted with all the trial and errors, and being able to find anything I could use.) In the end, I just used the one natural soap that I had been using for the past few years, for my body and hair. This was the baby soap in the Perfect Potion range, which was also the only soap that I could use on my kids when they were babies. (My daughter had very sensitive skin, and although it's still sensitive, it's no where near as bad.) However, at this stage, I had not bothered to change my toothpaste because it was the same one I'd been using for years, so I didn't see any reason to; But then I noticed something interesting: Although the skin on my face was clearing up, there was still a slight puffiness on my eyelids. It was then that I checked my toothpaste, and sure enough, because it's a mainstream brand, it had sulphur in it. So I ditched it and went searching for toothpaste without sulphur and benzoates.

This is where the health food store can be your best friend (as can the internet). Although my local supermarket stocks one version of one brand of natural toothpaste that I can use, the health food store has a good handful to choose from, although many don't taste too good. For kids, there's a great flavour range from the brand Snappy Jaws which I buy for my kids so that I can help them wash out their toothbrushes (otherwise I wouldn't be able to touch it).

The health food store is also the place where I find my shampoo, because here's the catch: Although there are shampoos on the market claiming to be sulphur free, they seem to mean SLS (sodium lauryl sulphate) free, so they'll contain other variants of sulphur, such as sodium lauryl sulfoacetate or sulfosuccinate. The herbal shampoos have these too, but although they're derived naturally, I still can't touch them. If there's no sulphur content, there is almost always a benzoate present, or if not, there will be wheat or something else I can't touch. It's frustrating to say the least. As I write this post, I have not yet found a shampoo that I can use that is nice on my hair, and by nice, I mean a shampoo that doesn't feel like it strips my hair dry. I've stopped bothering with conditioners as they generally contain a benzoate as the main preservative.

For makeup, I ditched all those mainstream brands and sadly had to throw out all my expensive makeup. Even the lipliners would react with my lips, leaving a bumpy, itchy red line after even 30 mins. I now only use mineral makeup and my personal preference is Inika, as it is what I would term real mineral makeup, as it doesn't have any of those chemical ingredients that I'm allergic to. I don't use any fancy facial cleansers - I just use my soap from Perfect Potion. There are a few in their range that I found I can use, although my preference is their baby soap. (Note that a lot of the products from Perfect Potion contain benzoates as the preservative, so you need to check the labels.)

For hair products such as hairspray, gels, creams, etc., you'll have to check all brand labels, as the only one I use is a hair fixing cream by Garnier Fructis. From memory, this was the only product at the time, that didn't contain any allergic ingredients, and it was only one product in their entire range.

On to nails... I don't often paint my nails but when I do, I only use Butter London. Their range is free from harmful / toxic ingredients used in mainstream nail polish, not to mention that most nail polish contain benzoates! I've only just found some nail polish remover from one of my local chemists, that's free from benzoates too. One is by Mavala (Swiss brand) and the other is Swisspers Nails (which is nail polish remover pads).

There is also a few liquid hand wash soaps that I've found that I can use. (I cannot use the ones found in public bathrooms, so I carry my own.) At home, I'm currently using the Natural Instinct Hand Wash, which I use in a pump soap dispenser. The whole family use it, so it saves me from trying to ensure that there is no cross contamination from products I can't touch.

I haven't bothered to change my toilet cleaner, as I don't come into skin contact with that. There are a few natural bathroom cleaning products available in supermarkets, but my husband has taken on the task of cleaning the bathroom regularly with mainstream products.

In the kitchen, I use the dishwasher whenever possible, but also have a natural liquid soap that I can use to hand wash the dishes. (I use to use gloves, but found that the rubber irritated my skin, especially if my hands had any allergic rashes on them already.)

I haven't changed my laundry detergent, although I do use a liquid as I find that I'm more likely to come into skin contact with the powder laundry detergents. I use Omo Sensitive. For stubborn stains, I use a eucalyptus pre-wash stain treatment. (Sorry - can't recall the brand name, but I've found it in both Coles and IGA.) I haven't found myself scratching after being in contact with clothing that's been washed, or to different fabrics.

I can't really recommend any moisturisers yet, as I have found that my skin doesn't need a moisturiser like it use to, before I cut out all the things that I'm (now) allergic to. My recommendation here, would be to visit the health food store to see what they have, rather than the chemist, as the chemist will typically stock products that contain harmful ingredients. (I also haven't found any moisturisers in Perfect Potion that don't have benzoates as the preservative, but you may want to try the Wotnot Baby Lotion.)

Another product that I can think of that needs to be included in this post, is sunscreen. I use Wotnot. It's the only sunscreen that I have found that my daughter can use, and although it's a little on the greasy side, it works. (I have literally tried every sunscreen on the market with my daughter when she was a toddler, and every one of them gave her a skin rash that would break her skin, making it look like she had dragged herself along a gravel road.) I use the Wotnot sunscreen for the whole family.

I'm sure that there is a benzoate in perfumes, but I haven't looked into that yet, so stay tuned. I haven't found any noticeable reaction to my current perfume, for the moment. As for deodorants, well, this is going to sound strange, but I don't use one anymore. Why? Simply because I've found that I don't sweat as much as I use to, since I cut out all the products that I reacted to. I'm sure this has to do with the chemical reaction in my body, but like I said at the start, I'm no chemist, so I really have no idea. I'm just going with what works for me.

Chocolate

Chocolate. I've never been a big fan of it, but when an event like Easter rolls around, you feel a bit left out if you can't enjoy an Easter egg with the rest of the family. (Assuming you celebrate the event.) This Easter, I had almost accepted the fact that anything related to chocolate that I could eat, wouldn't be chocolate as I use to know it before my allergies flared up last year. I had been purchasing the Sweet William range of chocolate from the grocery store, which never really tasted like chocolate as I remembered it, however I wasn't about to buy regular chocolate and wait for my allergic reactions to the milk (and sometimes egg and wheat) content.

I did check a few online health food stores and other blogs and found that any Easter chocolate for allergy sufferers were few and far between, and all were rather average. I guess most were on the market to stop any kids with allergies, from missing out. Then I found (or rather stumbled upon) Kinnerton, who are a UK confectionery company. They had a luxury dark chocolate Easter egg with a chocolate block as well in the one package, which I happily purchased for myself from David Jones. It was dairy free, nut free, gluten free and egg free. Jackpot for me!

On mid-morning on Easter, when the rest of the family cracked open their Easter eggs, I pulled out my own. I must admit that I was a little apprehensive about how it would taste and I was more than pleasantly surprised when the chocolate tasted like the most divine and normal chocolate that I ever ate. Although I savoured every little piece of that chocolate egg, I gave my husband (who does not share the bulk of my allergies) a tiny piece to try. He wrinkled his nose at the offering at first, as I think we'd both class him as a chocolate connoisseur of sorts, who prefers fine dark chocolate and nothing that would try to impersonate real chocolate. After some insistence, he tried the chocolate and happily stated that it tasted like regular, normal, good quality dark chocolate. Needless to say that I had to hide the rest of my chocolate so that I would be able to eat more of it the following day.

The only downside is that since Easter, I have not been able to find any more of their chocolate in stores. The Australian Kinnerton site list several stores in Australia where you can buy their chocolate, but I have not been able to find the same allergy range. I'll keep searching, but in the meantime, I have found that if I look for raw chocolate (sometimes labelled organic chocolate), then there usually isn't any dairy content. However, as I don't often eat chocolate, I've yet to try the ones that I've bought. When I do, I'll add to this post.

Avoiding sulphur

Out of all the things that I'm allergic to, sulphur seems to be the most difficult to work around. Avoiding ingesting sulphur generally means to avoid all dried fruits, vinegar, wine, or any food that contains these ingredients. I'm sure that this list is not exhaustive either, as I seem to find more and more products with the sulphur preservative (typically 223, but can be anything in the preservative range of 220-228). If you think about handling this in the simplest form, you'd eat fresh fruit rather than anything dried, avoid vinegar or anything preserved, and avoid wine. When cooking, you can generally substitute any ingredients that are not suitable, but how do you substitute dessicated or shredded coconut? I'm not one for buying a whole coconut and shredding the "meat" myself, and coconut cream doesn't work if you need the coconut to be dry. So, over the past few months, each time I've gone to the supermarket or health food store, I've looked for shredded coconut that does not contain sulphur. All the regular brands contain sulphur, which is incredibly frustrating, as sulphur is the preservative used to, well, "preserve" the coconut. I also tried Googling it, but I never came up with any results.  


Being the persistent person I am, I searched the grocery store shelves again tonight and I found it! It was an expensive small packet of organic coconut flakes, but as it's the only one I've found since I started looking months ago, I bought it. The brand? Honest to Goodness. I'm not one to generally buy organic products just because they're organic, but this one won me over as it clearly stated on the front "no added sulphur". The brand prides itself in having nothing artifical - so that means no preservatives, colours, additives, flavours or sweeteners, and it's not GMO. (The coconut flakes taste fantastic too, and I was tempted to just eat a good handful before putting them into the pantry.) They have a decent range of products available online too, if your grocery store don't stock their products. For more information, go to the Goodness website. They're based in Sydney; I'm not sure if they can ship internationally, as I haven't checked.


Before you head over to that site though, I must warn you that their products may have traces of gluten in it, so if you're highly allergic to gluten, then you may have to avoid their products. Thankfully, I don't react as badly to traces of gluten, as I do to traces of sulphur.


So now I can go back to making things like coconut slice for myself and my family. If only I could find a substitute for cheese, because making a pizza without cheese just doesn't hit the spot.