I learnt a long time ago that certain activities are not for me. I knew I was never going to be a girly~girl. Perfume is a migraine trigger; make~up gives me hives & rashes, itches & sneezes & other unpleasant things. When I was performing regularly the greasepaint turned my skin into a blotchy, bumpy mess. Skin care is warm water & a gentle wash. We don't experiment with laundry detergents. A lavender sachet amongst the linen is the extent of any perfumery & it is a major catastrophe if our non~allergenic deodorant line ceases production! My girls have inherited this unhappy state of affairs.
So when I was invited to one of those show & tell evenings for skin care products I very politely declined ~ for obvious reasons. A twenty minute boat trip inhaling someone else's deodorant has been known to have me hallucinating & spewing & I curse the women who have a preponderance for heavy, musky scents, applied liberally over cigarettes & wine. The smell of sweat is preferable. In our overly sanitized world that is not very acceptable but then some of us are forced to avoid certain people for the benefit of our health!
Having not attended the evening I was more than a little surprised to be chased up & presented with a free sample kit. Being chronically incapable of being rude & saying no I accepted the kit with a smile & a thank you. After all it was a very sweet gesture. In my house it was likely to get lost before it got used. It's non~allergenic, the host assured me. No animal products, no perfumes, no testing on animals. I forbore to mention the long list of non~allergenic products I am, in fact, extremely allergic to!
The kit arrived home safely but once out of my bag promptly disappeared, to be searched for frantically when the email arrived wanting to know how we'd found the product. Now I have a ruddy Celtic complexion that makes me look like a full blown lush on occasion. Star has the porcelain white skin that sometimes goes with red hair, does not tan & makes her look like she's related to a vampire. With puberty she has been having a lot of trouble with her skin ~ as I did ~ & the muck she has to apply to it for every performance does not help. So last night while we watched Bones we experimented.
The cleanser was brilliant. Not so much for me as for Star. The angry red inflammation was greatly reduced & our skin was left feeling really clean & silky smooth. I admit to being impressed ~ especially as neither of us got a reaction. Ditto the toner. I couldn't believe it. Having had so much success we got careless. We didn't do a test patch on the night serum. Yep. That was the one. Angry welted patches rose up on our cheekbones with a burning sensation & despite keeping it well away from our eyes they grew red, sore & puffy. Won't be using that one again. And it will be a few days before we can trial the other samples but I can assure you we will be being much more cautious! After all these years you'd think I'd know better. Non~allergenic is rarely non~allergenic in my case
6 comments:
You poor dears. I am sensitive but not that sensitive, thankfully. On the other hand, perhaps I am more sensitive in a differing way, because I can feel if a product is compatible with me or not before application most times.
I've never been one for make up and all the cleansing routines. Thankfully blessed with fairly good skin.
I do love those little demo parties though :-) Must have a least a little bit of girly girl in there :-)
Certain perfumes and certain strong smells give me migraines too, though thankfully they are few and far between these days!
I don't find it hard to say no usually but....demo parties are a different story so.....I generally avoid them unless it's something I am truly interested in:)
I'm so glad you found something nice. So sorry about the other though.
I have had similar reactions to things with my very fair (and now turning ruddy) skin, Ganeida. I have been experimenting with cleansing my face with oil for the past month and cannot believe the change! I think I will do it forever. Here's where I found out about it: http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/
Your writing, no matter what you're talking about, is always fantastic. :)
It must be so hard as just walking through a shopping centre you can be bombarded with smelly smells. I strongly dislike those nail stores, the sort you go to and they do your nails. It makes my eyes water and I'm not sensitive at all, it must be horrible for you.
Post a Comment