Is this a hair dye allergy?

Allergy Free Hair Dye?

• My mum had a few greys so she started using hair dye. After a few uses of dye, she got even MORE greys but eventually she ended up with the allergy - where she get HUGE swelling (she looks like a proper alien.. its not pretty), very itchy scalp, and dizziness. We have tried using black henna but it does not cover up the greys. We have bought so many other hair colours and tested them on the arm/wrist but all of them have made the arm swell up. We have to go to a wedding and she NEEDS black hair now. It is a must. Please could you suggest an allergy free hair dye? And I've heard of Herbatint but I've seen the ingredients of this (it contains): Herbatint Laureth-5 Propylene glycol Aqua PEG-2 oleamine Ethanolamine p-phenylenediamine aloe barbadensis extract hammelis virginiana extract betula alba leaf extract Echinacea angustifolia extract PEG-75 meadowfoarm seed oil 2-methylresorcinol p-aminophenol tetrasodium EDTA cetrimonium choloride sodium metabisulfite Glycol Developer Aqua Hydrogen peroxide Etidronic acid Cetrimonium chloride

• Answer:

  There is no such thing as black henna, if what your mother used was natural it was probably indigo. Henna and indigo together can make a safe black color for most people, but it's a longer process and she'll need a helper. To cover grey, and this work best with hair that's naturally dark and less than 50% grey, she'll need to use henna first at least once. Then she'll need to use indigo over the henna to get black. Indigo sticks better to henna and the red henna dye helps create a true black. Boxed henna mixes containing both henna and indigo mixed together won't cover as well, because henna and indigo are very different. Henna needs hours to more than a day to release dye and needs to sit on the hair for at least 4 hours, for total coverage 8 is best. Indigo doesn't need time to release dye, you just add water and slather it on. It takes an hour or less to get black. So mixing them together at once means either the henna won't have released enough dye, or the indigo's dye has become useless by the time henna is ready. To get black you have to use the two step process. If what she used wasn't all natural, it was henna with black hair dye, which can be even more dangerous than commercial hair dyes. This "black henna" is often unregulated, and may contain more PPD than box dyes, which is the nasty chemical that causes reactions in so many people. It's the seventh ingredient you listed, and it's seriously horrible. All dark commercial dyes will have some PPD, so if it's not a blonde dye you can expect it to be there. Don't let her use it, because it's the same thing that's caused her reactions in the past. Stop testing dyes on her skin. The more often she's exposed to PPD, the more likely it is she will develop a cross reaction, where other non-PPD dyes give her the same allergy. PPD is so nasty it can make you allergic to other dyes like food dyes, and can cause long term health problems.