Scalp is itchy after coloring

From now on, never, ever, ever get your hair dyed without a patch test. Natural is a meaningless buzzword in beauty products and it's starting to drive me crazy. People can be highly, deadly allergic to anything, even natural. Peanuts is one that springs to mind immediately. The idea that if its natural it must be good for you, or safe, is a fallacy yet it's a growing trend.

For now, it really depends on what caused the itching. I'm not sure if an anti histamine would do anything, but I suspect it might help if it's just itching. Look out for any swelling.

What dye was it? It could be you have a ppd allergy or that the peroxide has burned your scalp. Do you have any scabs forming?

From now on, never, ever, ever get your hair dyed without a patch test. Natural is a meaningless buzzword in beauty products and it's starting to drive me crazy. People can be highly, deadly allergic to anything, even natural. Peanuts is one that springs to mind immediately. The idea that if its natural it must be good for you, or safe, is a fallacy yet it's a growing trend.

For now, it really depends on what caused the itching. I'm not sure if an anti histamine would do anything, but I suspect it might help if it's just itching. Look out for any swelling.

What dye was it? It could be you have a ppd allergy or that the peroxide has burned your scalp. Do you have any scabs forming?

Thanks for the input. I took an anti histamine and it's helping with the itch. There is swelling and redness but no scabs.

In the future, is there ANYTHING I can use? I am a man and just want some touch up to make the gray look less noticeable when I get a new job. I really don't mind the gray and can live with it. It's kind of nice.

About the swelling... ???

I told her I had a very very bad reaction when I died my hair. I am going back tomorrow and ask to take an iphone photo of the ingredients.

Oh yes, I will ALWAYS get a patch test done if I never get it done again.

There are dyes you can use. I suspect it's a ppd allergy as it usually is. So you probably need to have dyes without ppd.

Reactions to ppd can start at any time and I believe that sometimes they get worse each time, so you might be lucky that it wasn't worse. Even if it's not ppd, it still could have been worse. You really should make a complaint to the hairdresser as it's extremely bad practice to do a dye without a patch test (or certainly used to be) but to tell you it'll be fine because it's 'natural' is extremely irresponsible and potentially shows a lack of knowledge and safety measures. You could very easily have ended up with a stay in a hospital.

Basically, any time you want to have your hair dyed, get a patch test 48 hours ahead of time. If you don't get a reaction, you'll be fine. As I said before, it's a good idea to try and make sure it's without ppd as its most likely that you're reacting to.

Thank you.

Oh, you never did say what dye it was? By which I mean, was it just a dye it bleached then dyed? Any info at all?

Oh, you never did say what dye it was? By which I mean, was it just a dye it bleached then dyed? Any info at all?

Sorry about that. All I know is she painted on my hair to make my gray hair less noticeable then washed it. I'm going to stop by tomorrow to find out exactly what kind it was. Then, maybe I will give the salon a really bad Yelp review. This is BS. Not sure about the review or not. But she should have tested me first.

What is making me a bit mad was I specifically told her several times I had a very very bad allergic reaction to die. She probably will deny that I never said that.

And I'm starting to feel a TINY TINY TINY irritation in my inner ear. It might be my imagination. On a scale from 1 to 10 it's a .5

If you're at all worried, go to hospital. It might not be connected. I'm not really sure of the amount of time that a reaction is likely to still be a problem, any irritation in your ear might be connected, but it's also likely it's not. Sometimes when we're looking for symptoms we'll see more than there is or attribute something that isn't connected at all. One of the most common side affects of drugs is headache, mostly because headaches are very, very common and so it's very hard to know if the headache was caused by the drug or not, so they list it as a side affect! Hopefully it's nothing 🙂

It's highly likely to have been either a permanent or a Demi permanent. Did it small strongly of chemicals? Did it burn a lot when it was on? Or was there no sensation at all?

There was no sensation at all and I did not smell anything.

Oh, that's interesting. Doesn't totally rule out a dye with peroxide (which could mean chemical burns), but if it wasn't then it is more likely to be a ppd allergy or something similar.

Well, good luck, hopefully nothing gets worse. Let us know what happens as I'd be very interested. It's a bit of a slow day here, I think everyone is off doing other stuff! But someone else might have other ideas of what it might be or ways you might be able to find out exactly what it is.

You asked me if there was a scap. no. but i do feel a tiny hard thing... microscopic really, the size of a follic in one area. Nothing to worry bout i am sure. Please reassure me. lol Surely there must be a place I can complain to about this salon. It was the owner who did it too.

Well, scabs don't always form immediately, they sometimes take a few days. It sounds like what you found was probably a tiny scab, but yeah, nothing to worry about. If it were anything really serious chemical burns to worry about then you'd know already. I was more thinking along the lines that a healing scalp can be itchy as hell and cause swelling. If there's still not scabs other than this tiny one then I would guess it's more likely it's a reaction. It's likely you're past the worst now, but I'm not a medical expert in anyway, just a former hairdresser (very short term I will add!) and what I know from personal experience. If you're still itching/swollen, go to the doctor. It might be worth it anyway, though doctors are a bit of a pain when it comes to hair dye. They have a habit of blaming everything on it.

Is it chain hairdresser? Or a local independent? If it's local, I'm not sure. You might have to take them to small claims court? Not sure. Probably not worth it. It might be something you can go to trading standards about. I have to admit, I've never thought much about it before. But she needs to know that not doing a test is wrong, to cover herself if anything, and potentially dangerous for her clients. Also, that natural doesn't mean safe.

If it's a chain, google the headquarters and email them. 

Wow! You always reply so fast. 🙂
I am probably just going to do nothing. She's a local private owner. I will just ask what she used so I at least know.

Lol I suppose so. I work from home and this is something I use as a quick break!

It's a shame, hairdressing is woefully under regulated in the UK (assuming that's where you are, if not, it's a whole different matter). There's a register for hairdressers and a hairdressers council who you can complain to, but it's estimated only 10% of them are on the register. I would guess with her apparent bad practice that she isn't. They deal with potentially life changing kind of dangerous chemicals on a daily basis. You don't even have to have to have any experience at all to set up as a hairdresser.

I am in the USA.
I just showed her. She used loreal homee.