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| Me right before the fateful dye |
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| Right after the dye...see, it looked really good |
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| Tuesday before the burlesque show. I didn't know anything was wrong yet, but my face actually is pretty red |
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| My neck Wednesday morning |
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| My face Wednesday afternoon |
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| My face Wednesday night when I woke up from my nap |
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| My face Wednesday night after my shower |
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| More swelling Wednesday night |
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| Right before I went to bed Wednesday |
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| Thursday morning |
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| Thursday after being awake for about two hours |
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| Thursday right before I left for Urgent Care |
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| Thursday, immediately after taking my first dose of meds |
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| Thursday night |
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| Friday morning |
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| Saturday morning |
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| Sunday morning |
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| Sunday after being awake for a few hours, and showering |
So recently I dyed my hair. I’ve been doing this since I was 13 years old. I usually dye it red, but I’ve dyed it brown, black, and pink, and I’ve also bleached it. Many of these times, it’s been dyed by my mother or a friend, but lately I’ve been going to the salon, because it’s nice to pamper yourself a little.
This time, I thought I’d try to cut costs a little and have my mom do it. I also thought I’d spice it up a little and get a *crazy* red. I got Splat brand hair dye, and the color was called Crimson Obsession. Different enough to be cool, but not fire engine red or anything.
The hair dye was already mixed, which my mom and I thought was a little weird. The dye itself was also really thick. I washed it out, and even though I scrubbed the shit out of my head, I couldn’t get it all. We’d put Vaseline around my hairline and on my forehead and neck, but there were still stains. My mom had to go out anyway, and while she was out, she found hair dye removal towelettes, and she helped me go in for another round of extraneous dye removal. My scalp was itchy and the back of my neck felt kind of raw, but whatever, right?
In the morning, I noticed that there were a lot of raw areas on my scalp, and they were starting to weep and scab over. It was still itchy as hell. A parent suggested coconut oil, so after work I booked it to Target and found a sample pack of a coconut oil hair conditioner. I showered at J’s apartment, then got ready to meet him and go to a burlesque show - which was fun, but I was still itchy, weepy, and scabby.
Wednesday at work I started to go downhill fast. I was out of my brain with itchiness, and there were huge scabs and tons of scab liquid. My co-teacher also noticed that I looked a little puffy, and generally not good, and the back of my neck was super red. I got someone to cover in my classroom and went home. I took Benadryl and slept all afternoon. When I woke up, my pillow was covered in blood and scab liquid that had been turned pink by the dye. My hair was also this disgusting matted mess that I needed my mother’s help to comb out. After dinner, I had my mom put a lemon juice and yogurt mix on my scalp that I’d read about online. Then I showered, took more Benadryl, and went to bed. I felt better, so I planned to go to work the next day.
I woke up and couldn’t open up my right eye at all, so I texted my boss and told her I wasn’t coming in, and was going to the doctor. Unfortunately, their earliest appointment was 2:30, and my face was getting more and more swollen, so my mom took me to urgent care. They prescribed me prednisone, and told me to also take Benadryl and Zyrtec.
After starting the prednisone, I
finally felt better. It took a few days, but my scabs all went away, and my neck and face calmed down. Everything is back to normal except my neck, which is still kind of itchy, but I think that’s more because it keeps being touched than because of any actual reaction.
Of course, I was a dummy and didn’t do a patch test. I’m trying to make an appointment with an allergist to find out exactly what I had a reaction to, because I want to stay a redhead and maybe experiment with funky colors, but I most certainly do not want to have a reaction again.
