Reaction to Ojon

[petpixie]

This morning my 15 year old son used my Ojon ultra hydrating shampoo in the shower (too much effort to grab a bottle of his normal shampoo out of the cupboard!) He's had an unpleasant reaction to it with an itchy scalp, face and eyes and a very red, blotchy and puffy face.
He does have sensitive skin and suffers from occasional eczema outbreaks. Just thought I'd mention this in case someone with sensitive skin was planning on giving it a go. It may be worth doing a patch test first.

 

[Bensmum]

This morning my 15 year old son used my Ojon ultra hydrating shampoo in the shower (too much effort to grab a bottle of his normal shampoo out of the cupboard!) He's had an unpleasant reaction to it with an itchy scalp, face and eyes and a very red, blotchy and puffy face.
He does have sensitive skin and suffers from occasional eczema outbreaks. Just thought I'd mention this in case someone with sensitive skin was planning on giving it a go. It may be worth doing a patch test first.

My friend had exactly the same reaction and ended up on steroids. There must be something nasty in it that some people react to. Shouldn't be for the price though. Hope your son is better soon. He probably needs some anti-histermines.

 

[petpixie]

OMG!!! Now I'm really worried! I've kept him off school so I'll be keeping a very close eye on him today!

 

[Bensmum]

OMG!!! Now I'm really worried! I've kept him off school so I'll be keeping a very close eye on him today!

Sorry, didn't mean to worry you. It might be worth ringing the GP's surgery though, if only to put your mind at rest.

 

[petpixie]

Thanks ~ I'll see how it goes and if it seems to be getting worse I'll definitely do that.

 

[sheepdog]

Hazarding a guess here, but doesn't that reaction sound a bit like a nut allergy? Ojon uses that nut as a base for its product so it could be a trigger. I'd send him along for further tests as soon as possible.

 

[petpixie]

He doesn't normally have a nut allergy Sheepdog ~ he eats peanuts and peanut butter with no problem. Maybe he's allergic to some type of nuts topically though? Or maybe it's not the nuts but something else that's in it. It doesn't seem to be getting worse so far though, thank goodness, but it's not getting better either!

 

[MsTrouble]

Just had a quick look at the ingredients in the shampoo and it looks like the culprit could be COCAMIDOPROPYL BETAINE. According to my cosmetic ingredient book it is an allergen.

It is known to cause allergic contact dermatitis in sensitive skins.
Allergy symptoms can include itching, redness or puffiness.

I thought it could be the fragrance but that is the last ingredient in the listing.

Worth comparing ingredients to his usual shampoo.

 

[petpixie]

Thanks MsTrouble ~ that's very useful to know it's an allergen. I'll be sure to look out for that ingredient in anything he's likely to use.

 

[cupcake]

yes give him some antihistamines. i recently ate a tiny amount of morrocan style humous - had eaten the same brand before - but within seconds i started to have an allergic reaction (my face and neck turned scarlet - i could feel it burning and see the redness spreading when i looked in the mirror). took some anti histamines and fortunately, it stopped it getting any worse and within a few hours, the redness had more or less gone.

 

[petpixie]

Glad the antihistamines stopped it cupcake ~ it's scary seeing these reactions happening so quickly, and being out of your control. I'll have to stock up on antihistamines methinks!

 

[Nicky-j]

Almost everything and anything can be an allergen. Just because a substance is not usually recognised as one, doesn't mean a particular individual can't react to it. Unless your son has a worsening reaction, it might be worth consulting a pharmacist - they are usually pretty good at helping with this sort of thing and suggesting the right type of treatments etc.

 

[petpixie]

Almost everything and anything can be an allergen. Just because a substance is not usually recognised as one, doesn't mean a particular individual can't react to it. Unless your son has a worsening reaction, it might be worth consulting a pharmacist - they are usually pretty good at helping with this sort of thing and suggesting the right type of treatments etc.

You're right Nicky ~ my son has had mild reactions from time to time to all sorts of innocuous things. He's never had a reaction to any type of soap or shampoo before though and it's interesting that Ojon contains a substance known to be an allergen.

 

[MsTrouble]

I have had very bad reactions to the simplest of things when I became exposed to an ingredient over a period of months that made my skin puffy, inflamed, sore and itchy.
Contact dermatitis is just that, a reaction or irritation on contact with the skin from an irritant ingredient. Once I knew what it was I stopped using that product and my skin healed. Because it had gone on for such a long time my skin was highly sensitised to just about anything for a couple of years.

I did go to my GP but all they prescribed were antihistamines, they didn't work so ended up using a steroid cream. The thing was my skin was still in contact with the irritant and so I was just going around in circles. Finding the cause is hard but best to start somewhere with known irritants.

According to the American Contact Dermatitis Society, Cocamidopropyl Betaine won the award Allergen of the Year 2004!

 

[xstamper]

I have never purchased Ojon for the very reason it contains nuts and my son has a nut allergy, which includes peanuts but also tree nuts and various ones would give him a reaction.

Oils produced from nuts are ok if they are refined which removes all the protein which causes the reactions so it's best to patch test products.

 

[Leighton Orient]

It's really informative reading this, thank you, I had no idea such relatively innocent things can provoke such an instant and violent reaction. I've either been very lucky or have skin like rhino hide cos I've never had anything like that and am very glad. The thought of having to be wary of anything new, or probably worse, anything 'improved' and reading rafts of ingredient lists must be a constant nightmare.
My only reaction to Ojon has been '**** me this stuff actually works'!

 

[loujareth]

I can't use oat based products, weird eh! It was a natural organic type shampoo and conditioner and realised a honey and oat handmade soap different brand made my skin crawl too. I can use Ojon ok, only occasionally but don't react as badly as with Oats. Once had a Virgin Vie body scrub that was nut based and that made my skin react. It's hard when theres some lovely stuff out there that makes your skin react so much.

 

[Loveinamist]

I can't use oat based products, weird eh! It was a natural organic type shampoo and conditioner and realised a honey and oat handmade soap different brand made my skin crawl too. I can use Ojon ok, only occasionally but don't react as badly as with Oats. Once had a Virgin Vie body scrub that was nut based and that made my skin react. It's hard when theres some lovely stuff out there that makes your skin react so much.

I have tons of allergic reactions to food and products including oats. An Ojon blow dry sleekening product affected me terribly with boils around my hairline.

 

[Aranlady]

Antihistamines should sort him out, if not, definitely see your GP

I'm seriously allergic to Liz Earl products - only tried it once and within a few minutes, face was burning up and swelling - seriously!. Had to wash face in cold water and the next day had a skin test at Body Shop. They were absolutely shocked - apparently layers of skin had been burned off face and they wanted to know what I'd used :sweat: Just for info - my skin is not sensitive and apart from certain meds, I'm not allergic to anything else apart from prawns! Needless to say, the product was returned and I got a bog standard letter from LE stating I must be allergic to some of the "natural extracts" they use. Yeah right!

P xx

 

[petpixie]

Son is fine now, but it was a useful warning to be careful what he uses. It's really scary how we can be allergic to all manner of things ~ anything really!
I used to always use Clinique moisturiser and loved it, then I switched to another one. When that one was finished I then went back and used Clinique again. Shortly after putting it on, my face began to burn. It went bright red and puffed out alarmingly. My eyes were so puffy I could hardly see! It took 2 days to fully return to normal.