Question:
Quote: Originally Posted by purplebird7 Gosh, I'm so sorry for you with these reactions.
What are the most allergenic substances or chemicals?
Could we list some for future reference? Benzyl alcohol
Benzyl Salicylate
Benzyl alcohol
Cinnamal Alcohol
Cinnamal
Citral
Coumarin
Eugenol
Geraniol
Isoeugenol
Anise Alcohol
Benzyl Benzonate
Benzyl Cinnamate
Citronellol
Farnesol
Limonene
Linalool
Amyl Cinnamal
Amylcinnamyl Alcohol
Hydroxycitronellol
Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde
Butylphenyl Methylpropional
Hexyl Cinnamal
Methyl 2-Octynoate
Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone
Oak moss
Tree moss
By law, any fragrance produced in the EU containing any of these allergens will have them listed on the packaging - in the last few years since this became law, at least. It won't apply to vintage frags of course! This is done specifically to enable people who have an allergy to avoid the substance that causes it. It will also help people who have a reaction to isolate the offending substance.

Answer:
Thanks jazztweety and Nutmeg for the useful information; most interesting. I'll take a closer look at that list this weekend with the offending bottle in hand.

Answer:
Here's some of my experiences with allergic reactions. I've had allergies & intolerances on & off since I was 7 years old.
Sometimes my chemical, food, etc. intolerances will become full blown allergies for a short period of time. This happens if I've been sick & my immune system is run down, I have started taking medication, I'm extremely stressed & tired, have made big changes in my diet or even a trip to the dentist for fillings will turn intolerances into allergies for me. It could be one thing that triggers the reaction or a combination of several things.

Intolerances build up in my body creating extra toxins on top of the everyday toxins & my body goes into toxin overload. Also it may not be just one ingredient but a combination of ingredients. For example: the ingredient on it's own may not cause a reaction but when combined with other ingredients they become a chemical/toxic cocktail on your skin.
My worst reaction to a fragrance was Chanel No.5. I sprayed some on my wrist at a perfume counter, immediately it started stinging & burning. It took 10 mins. to get from the perfume counter to a washroom, the result was a burn which took about 2 weeks to ease & stop being painful & another week or so for all the redness to go.
Now I take a perfume testing kit with me when I go perfume testing:- small bottle of water, cloth, handmade cold cream (with Lavender & Chamomile E.O.'s) & aloe vera gel. I use the lavender as it's great for burns & the chamomile is very soothing, plus I know I'm not allergic to these essential oils. I actually don't rub the cold cream in, I just let a glob of it sit on the area for awhile, then gently wipe it off & apply the aloe vera gel. This quick evasive action stops the reaction from getting really bad. My rule of thumb is if a perfume starts to sting or burn, get it off as fast as possible. Slight warming is usually o.k.
I don't just get skin reactions sometimes a scent will give me cold/flu like symptoms for a few days or will slightly restrict my airways, give me a headache or make me feel a bit green. (ill)
Below are some of the things that I find helpful when I have an allergic reaction:
Oatmeal baths with a little lavender & chamomile should help with the itching, just place some oatmeal in a sock, place in the water & squeeze the sock several times to release the oatmeal "juice" into the bath water.
I take Claratyne tablets (anthistamine) to help relieve the allergy symptoms.
I cut out all non-natural creams & shower gels (I use natural soap) - after the rash goes, would still wait a few weeks before using again.
I only use natural amoratherapy (essential oil) based perfume oils while I'm going through the allergic reaction phase. I also find that alternating between natural perfumes & mainstream perfumes help stop the toxic build-up in my body - seems to help combat the amount of allergic reactions I have.
I also drink green tea & extra water to help flush the extra toxins away.
Also, if the perfume that caused the reaction is a HG, try diluting the fragrance in some jojoba oil with a small amount of polysorbate 20 to help disperse the fragrance into the oil base.
Wishing you a speedy recovery & as a side note, I've been sampling some Ava Luxe scents & so far, no allergic reactions! I've even purchased two full sized bottles & have several other scents on my "to buy" list. Ava Luxe is the first niche house that I've been able to wear, but, there are many other houses that I haven't tried yet! I'm also waiting on some natural perfume samples from basenoter - jazztweety.

Answer:
The list of natural allergens (as opposed to chemical ones) in fragrances is huge as well, i don't want to give those fragrance nazis (that organization that likes to ban everything under the sun) any ideas so i won't even post them.
Thankfully i haven't had absolutely no allergic reactions to any fragrances i have come across.
I am allergic to both mosquito bites and bee stings. (one bee can send me to a hospital). That's about it.

Answer:
Quote: I'm also waiting on some natural perfume samples from basenoter - jazztweety Moonlight_Flower,

what a story! Your perfume testing kit sounds amazing! Like Castorpollux said, the natural allergens are a problem too - I actually don't agree with some Natural Perfumers' attitude that the nasty chemicals are responsible for allergies and everything natural will be harmless. The only advantage is that with hand blended perfumes every irritating substance can easily be left out, and that it's relatively easy to find out the oil that caused the harm.
This is of course not the case with industrial perfumes. When you say you can take Lavender and Chamomille, but #5 kills you, I suspect the culprit on the chemical side. Was the reaction on the old or the reformulated #5? Chanel had to reformulate it, because of the very high nitromusks.
I avoid some commonly used critical materials totally, but some I use in extremely low doses much below the limit, like benzoin and some spices.
Nevertheless even the lowest dose can cause a reaction when somebody is already sensitized. To avoid all risks, I am now making my scents in two versions, the original and the "super-safe" version. I'll send you some of those in a couple of days!

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Actually Castorpollux, that list contains all the natural allergens as well as the ones found only in artificial fragrance substances. Seventeen of those allergens are found in pure essential oils and an item fragranced with pure natural essential oils will also have them listed on the label - although some essential oils have none at all, patchouli, for example.
What the list does not contain are those fragrance compounds which cause allergy at levels higher than those allowed to be used in perfumes, (with the sole exception of the oak and tree mosses). Which is perfectly logical - they would not be causing allergy to the consumer, and there is no need to put them on the label. And yes, this would be a far larger list!
When you have an allergy, you need to avoid the trigger, and information is the key.

Answer:
My skin can be extremely sensitive, and reacts weirdly to various things under different conditions that it's altogether unpredictable, so I seldom apply fragrance to my skin any longer, but to my hair.
I just spray/drip the fragrance into my cupped hand, and when my hair is short, then gently distribute it over the surface only, not rubbing at all, and staying well clear of the hairline. When my hair is longer, I just flip it forward, pull the nape-hair down and apply (then the underside of the hair that touches my skin has little or no fragrance on it).
You may want to try this in the future, if your skin continues playing up.

Answer:
Well I sat in the doctor's for 90 minutes waiting to be seen tonight. Eventually I saw him and was prescribed Betamethasone valerate cream and an antihistamine tablet, Fexodenadine. The doctor said I should start on them tonight, so obviously it's pretty bad. Actually, everyone who sees it is pretty shocked.

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Just wondered if (and hoped) you were feeling better...

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It seems to be improving slightly. The older patches seem to be drying but there are newer areas (I read up on it and apparently the rash can move around the body even if that area hasn't been exposed to the offending allergen). It's not as itchy, at least. But damn, is it ugly!