The Monkey + Moon 'My Allergy Story" trilogy is told from the perspective of our Founder, Maxime Renfrew. These three allergic reactions spanning five years were pivotal in the founding of the company, bringing to light the unregulated use of preservatives and chemicals in the UK's cosmetic and personal care industry:
I woke up the morning after a Halloween night out and couldn’t open my eyes. To my horror, I had fallen asleep with fake eye lashes on, a remnant of my attempt at a Harley Quinn outfit from last night. I stumbled out of bed and tried to survey the extent of the problem in my bedroom mirror. Peeling open my eyelids and expecting a mild case of conjunctivitis, I gasped in disbelief as my reflection revealed a Quasimodo character staring back at me. My eyelids had swollen up to the size of bulging golf balls. I immediately called a taxi and took myself to A&E where I was prescribed antihistamine.
Well into the next year I struggled as my eyes continued to swell up every morning, becoming bloodshot and itchy as the day went on.
These photos were taken throughout the course of a day and a night - they show how the extreme swelling resulting from my reaction to fake eyelash glue.
Once referred I could now get a patch test – a procedure where your back and arms are covered in a numbered grid where 35 common allergens are tested. After a few days, the doctor would be able to see if there is any reaction to each substance and diagnose any allergies. My patch test revealed that I had contact dermatitis and was allergic to the following:
Acrylates & methacrylate, parfum, limonene, linalool.
Acrylates produce a glazed effect, they are used on some fruit such as apples, in nail polish, in some make up products like mascara and liquid eyeliner and concealer, sun cream and… eyelash glue.
Parfum is an umbrella term for any chemical fragrance.
Limonene and linalool are two citrus fragrances used in basically everything from cleaning products to personal care, for no other reason than to mask the smells of other chemicals. They are well-known allergens that lots of people have problems with.
With this diagnosis and new knowledge, all I had to do was avoid any products that contained these ingredients, whereas before it was impossible to decipher what exactly was causing the reaction. Simple, right?
Whilst I wore drugstore makeup daily before this experience, I had never worn fake eyelashes before. The reaction wasn’t immediate and probably began as a form of conjunctivitis from my eyelashes being stuck together overnight and setting off a reaction which escalated.
Atopic allergies are formed in childhood but can lie dormant until triggered by a traumatic event (in this case my poor eyes being glued shut by acrylates for eight hours). The key here is the contact dermatitis. The allergen didn’t need to be applied directly to my face - it could be used on my hair or hands or be in the air – if it had any form of contact with my face, however fleeting, it could potentially set off a reaction. Given the severity of my symptoms, I was highly sensitised to these substances, and would have an increasingly severe reaction with each exposure. It was really important that I didn't expose myself to any of these substances again.
This is when I realised that almost every product I used in my daily life had contained one if not all of these substances.
When I was waking up every morning for the past two months, washing my hair with my shampoo, cleaning the house with limonene laced products, and painting my nails, my already reactive, highly sensitive skin was being overloaded with allergens. Prior to my eyelash glue experience, these products may have gone unnoticed by my reactive skin, but since my system was already in overdrive, they were adding fuel to the fire.
After the patch test enabled me to avoid certain ingredients, my symptoms still took months to disappear. It can take a long time for substances and the effects of these substances to completely leave your body.
The thing about allergies is that rather than improving through exposure, they become increasingly severe, to the point where an individual may not be able to be exposed to said allergen without experiencing a reaction. Increased exposure can also cause a person to develop more allergies and sensitivities to new substances and varied reactions to an allergen.
Whilst it’s all very well to say “just avoid these ingredients”, unfortunately, these ingredients are in almost every cosmetic product on the market. Since these products are largely unregulated, manufacturers can claim to be “natural” “organic” and “hypoallergenic” on their packaging and simultaneously list methacrylate, acrylates, limonene, linalool and parfum in their product ingredients.
Through this experience, I became an expert at deciphering ingredients lists on cosmetic packaging. At the time, Clinique were just about the only UK brand with any form of sensitive skin makeup, on which I quickly relied upon. Their mascara, however, was full of allergens, so I had to source this from La Roche Posay - not the friendliest price point for cash-strapped students.
Equipped with my knowledge about allergens, I simply avoided any product which contained acrylates, limonene and linalool (easier said than done), and life felt started to feel normal again.
Fast forward to the summer, I’ve graduated (by the skin of my teeth) and I am heading to Shanghai to complete a Master’s degree. Living in China without easy access to the special shampoo, makeup, and moisturisers which I was using was quite daunting. In addition to the general challenges of living in China, I was afraid that if I had a severe reaction, I wouldn’t be able to get the medication I needed. I did, however, manage to thrive in Shanghai for years before I experienced another allergic reaction which would ultimately send me home to the UK.
Check out My Allergy Story: Chapter 2 next!
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