Thread: Soap Allergy and Detective Work

I have broken out from 3 shave soaps. Geo F Trumpers, C&E Moroccan Myrrh and this morning L'Occitane Cade. Oddly enough, I have used Cade several times before without an issue, but this morning it left my face with a rash -- red, hot and painful. My face still looks wind burnt over 12 hours later.
So I put together a spreadsheet with the ingredient lists for all the soaps I have used. Including those that have / have not caused me to break out. The ingredient that stands out is Sodium Palmate (product of palm oil / Lye). It is a top ingredient in all three of the problem soaps and is not present in any of the other soaps. Oddly enough Sodium Palm Kernelate (product of Palm Kernel Oil / lye) is in several of the products that do not cause an issue.
So apparently, I have an allergy to soaps that use Palm Oil in the saponification process. That rules out a lot of the hard soaps. Kinda bummed.

Bummer!

Try being allergic to wheat and corn!

I had a similar reaction to mama bear soaps. I have been using them for about 2 years, then out of nowhere a newer soap destroyed my face. It felt like fire, and left my skin broken with a bad rash. I hate it bc now I am scared to buy new soaps from mama bear. I loved the brand until now. I don't know what changed.

That's sucks! A lot of the places I buy from on line don't seem to list ingredients, it can be bit frustrating. Thankfully I can ask here on SRP about those ingredients if I'm interested in a save soap, most likely someone has it.
I have a daughter with a Nut allergy, and so all the Almond oil soaps/oils are off limits.

Originally Posted by Scareface

Bummer!

Try being allergic to wheat and corn!

Corn is in everything it seems in some form or another, must be quite the challenge when it comes to food.

Luckily I don't seem to have any real issues with soaps an creams. Only products I have found that give me some irritation are strong menthol scents. I normally make it through wtg pass ok, but upon relather for next pass it starts to bother me. An allergic to corn or nuts or dairy would likely kill me lol.

Originally Posted by Trimmy72

Corn is in everything it seems in some form or another, must be quite the challenge when it comes to food.

Yep! Fresh everything! And then eating out is a huge crap shoot.
Epipen and Benadryl go everywhere I go.

Originally Posted by Scareface

Yep! Fresh everything! And then eating out is a huge crap shoot.
Epipen and Benadryl go everywhere I go.

I feel ya! We don't go out much at all, but when we do it's two Epi-pens, Benadryl, and a inhaler .
Fortunately we haven't had an incident since my daughter was 2 - she's now 10, so either we've been real lucky, very cautious, or my hope is that she's out grown it.

Originally Posted by Trimmy72

I feel ya! We don't go out much at all, but when we do it's two Epi-pens, Benadryl, and a inhaler .
Fortunately we haven't had an incident since my daughter was 2 - she's now 10, so either we've been real lucky, very cautious, or my hope is that she's out grown it.

My allergies got bad after 40. Had them all my life but became more threatening as I aged.

Allergies come and go as you age. Had a lot of asthma attacks as a child - adrenaline shots by the doc via home visit (the old days). No asthma problems in 70 years. Seasonal allergies are always a crap shoot. One year start in late January, next year middle of the Summer start. Mold has never gone away. Shaving soaps/creams are highly scrutinized before buying - menthol, eucalyptus and Shea Butter are my constant bug-a-boos.