(stock image credits to Lum3n.com @ pexels.com)
Hi guys! This post isn't a glamorous makeup related post, nor issit me talking about food I've recently tried. This post is also not about me trying to be "doctor-know-it-all-about-skin" but more like a post just to document my fascination towards my multi-allergy reactions within the span of a week haha. Yes. MULTI.
I'm not sure where to start but I guess this is what I'm thinking about at the moment.
The human body is weird and I don't understand it at all.
Growing up I could say I was blessed with no allergies. I had no allergic reaction eating any form of shell fish. I love prawns, I love scallops, I love crabs and I also love lobsters. Thank goodness these aren't cheap and affordable ingredients that I could eat on a daily basis. Basically, I've never had an allergy reaction no matter how many prawns or crabs I've eaten. That was until last week when I had 3 allergy reactions. So here's what I've learned from all this.
1. You could be allergic to something you were never allergic to before.
I'm aware that this is something common with food products but I never knew this was possible when it comes to shampoo. I had this shampoo and I loved it! I love the cooling feeling it gives my scalp and for someone that doesn't like mint flavoured food/sweets, I surprisingly love it on my hair?? It felt refreshing la and I had no issues with it when I first used it.
I stopped using it for a while because I'm someone that changes shampoo brands often. I try not to stick with just one shampoo for the rest of my life. When I revisited it the other day, it gave me tiny breakouts here and there on my neck, bottom half of my scalp (I know, weird right?) and even in my ears. Gross, I know, you can feel it there but thank goodness you can't see it unless you try super hard hahaha! At first I thought the tiny pimples that appeared in my ear could be from the infection I had from my Tonsillitis infection that ran all the way up to my left ear, but that can't be it because I'm pretty sure the infection cleared up two weeks ago. Thank goodness I had my blocked ear checked and got the right medication for it in time though. Apparently the infection that spread up to my ear was so bad that I was close to going deaf 1 ear. T_T
So back to shampoo, yup. If you want an update, basically most of the tiny breakouts on my scalp and ears are slowly clearing up. I switched back to an all-natural shampoo and totally cut off conditioner. Since I've cut off conditioner, the ends of my hair looks extra fried now T_T Why are hair treatments so expensive la sigh.
2. I'm allergic to pressed powders???
Compact powder foundation / pressed powder foundation / mineral pressed powders, whichever you name it, they'll all give me a break out. It took me 3 compact powders over the span of 7 years to finally figure this out. My first ever foundation was a compact powder foundation. Prior to using it, I had 0 breakouts. However, being 13 at the year of 2010 and not having a clue about makeup or loving my skin, I just continued using that pressed powder foundation because it was literally the only foundation I could afford with my savings despite it giving me breakouts + being super cakey. I must say that I'm very lucky that I didn't get breakouts as bad as cystic acne(thank goodness) but my face did went from 0 breakouts to maybe 10 new pimples overnight?
At that time, I wrote it off as:
1. I didn't know how to properly cleanse my face.
2. The brand sucks, after all the powder was only RM20 lol
3. It's probably teenage acne. I was 13 and just started venturing into cosplay and makeup LOL, I honestly didn't know what to expect.
Though a while later(maybe after 4 times max of using that foundation) I upgraded a bit, I saved up my pocket money and invested on a Candy Doll liquid foundation. I was also blessed that my mom has decided to get a Laura Mercier translucent loose powder and I guess my acne did reduce after I stopped using the pressed powder foundation. Because of this, I settled for option 2. I stopped using that brand completely and totally laid my hands off all pressed powder foundations.
Fun fact: I've actually went to the extreme of avoiding drugstore foundations until two years ago when I absolutely needed a liquid foundation for work. I did not want to splurge because I was only working for a week so I gave it a go with L'Oréal True Match, and thank goodness it didn't break me out. Though I do admit, I barely used it because I'm typically not a foundation kinda girl. That's why I'd save on the foundation and splurge on the concealer. My go-to is always primer + concealer + setting powder. So since then I had more trust with drugstore foundation. I also gave the brand I've boy-cot for years a second chance with a lipstick. I loved it, a lot and so I stopped hating the brand. Though I'll probably never get a foundation from them ever again haha. People gotta learn to forgive after so many years right.
Ever since switching to loose powders, I've never touched pressed powders ever again until last year for a sponsored post. I loved the pressed powder. I love how beautiful the packaging was, how silky the finish of my face looked after using it. I loved the convenience it gave for traveling!! Sadly, I got a number of new pimples on my face the next day after using it. :')
I wrote that off as I didn't cleanse my face properly and perhaps my skin just didn't like that product I guess? At this time I've kinda suspected that perhaps my skin just don't like pressed powders, but people told me something like this was impossible and it was only the second pressed powder I've tried in life, so I shrugged it off.
In 2017, I tried out another pressed powder and well....I've finally came to a conclusion that no matter how beautiful the finish of the pressed powder gives me, or how convenient it is to travel with a pressed powder, the after math of using it will always give me a number of breakouts overnight.
Here I learned that sometimes, it's not the brand, but perhaps, just perhaps it's the type of product? As ridiculous as it sounds, I don't exactly know what ingredients are there that was present in all three of these pressed powders I've used that had caused the breakout. I ain't no medical student so I'm not exactly sure if "allergies" could even come in the form of 8-12 tiny pimples overnight. If you're a medical student, please feel free to educate me on this. I'm actually really curious because I absolutely love pressed powders T_T But for now, I'll try my best to avoid pressed powders T.T
3. Being allergic to spices?? suddenly prawns?? T.T
Hoho. This one I have photo! Not a cute one but helps explain things better haha.
I attended my bf's graduation buffet the other day and came home with some itches here and there when I only had two prawns. So at this point there's 3 possibilities. I have suddenly became allergic to prawns / I was allergic to some spices used in the cooking / I got bitten by some insect.
At first it didn't seem like anything, I thought the red spots were mosquito bites. So I went to bed and next morning everything was fine. I went on the day without any itchiness either. I even had shredded chicken flat noodles with prawns (basically Ipoh Hor fun) for breakfast JUST TO SEE IF I'M SUDDENLY ALLERGIC TO PRAWNS! Nothing. One whole day, I was fine. Then night came, I was downstairs just chilling with the fam and I'm not sure if heat would stimulate allergy reactions lol but things started getting a little itchy again. I had two-three tiny red spots similar to the ones from the night before. This time I assumed it's an allergy la.(but also not sure caused by what??) Being kiasu, I quickly took an antihistamine pill. (Zyrtec-D)
After taking the medication, I was just watching videos on Youtube, now under the air-cond, and the itching stopped. I figured I'd take a shower before heading to bed and I swear my reflection scared me gao gao. I went into the washroom and my face looked like a tomato. My face had red patches all over. I've also noticed the red spots on my neck became red patches. Red spot on my arm somewhat multiplied and looked like Barney and the dinosaur's polka dots but red. At this point I have yet to notice my thigh.
Days before this I was googling about allergies from cosmetics (more specifically pressed powders) which made me confused if my pressed powder case can actually be labelled as an allergy because most of the "allergy images" on googled resembled the photos above and mine kinda just gave me a number of new pimples the next morning. Me being super kiasu and really can't afford to skip any more classes due to falling sick was having a mini mental panic attack. My aunt ngam ngam came into the room and was observing my red patches and told me it's an allergy reaction because she's experienced it once and hers was a horrible case. Her allergy patches had spread all over her body and the doctor had to give her a jab immediately. It was when she told me normally the allergy would start from the legs only I noticed my thighs.
Considering the fact that this red patch wasn't there 20minutes ago + me being new to this whole "allergy" thing, that patch obviously elevated my panic level x10000. Assuming that I've suddenly became allergic to prawns, I was whining over the thought of kissing my favourite dish ever goodbye - Seafood Marinara. Since I was so kiasu and was complaining how the medicine didn't work and maybe it's not even an allergy, my mom took me to a clinic :')
The doctor took a look and immediately pointed it as an allergy. The happiest thing I've heard from him was "It might not be prawns but possibly certain spices" Why the allergy only spread after such a long interval is still a mystery to me. Though it could be prawns too since I had them during breakfast. But I'm not sure why it took an entire day to see a reaction either lol. The human body is just so confusing. Well anyways, the doctor gave me some medication and I went home.
I felt more assured after seeing the doctor. Zyrtec-D was the antihistamine I took before seeing the doctor. And its "magical healing powers" started kicking in when I was on the phone with my Bestie. I was happily talking while working on my stuff and I pretty much left the doctor's medication untouched. It was really cute to see the big red patch on my thigh just instantly clearing up within 3 hours after coming back from the doctor though. I was like giving my bestie live updates on the clearing process HAHA. Before heading to bed, most of the allergy spots had cleared and I was still a bit kiasu la so I still took the doctor's medication before sleeping. (He prescribed me one that is safe to consume even within an hour after consuming 1 Zyrtec-D tablet)
100% OKAY the next morning. I know la allergy reactions will go away very quickly, but just let this allergy Suaku be amazed at how a huge red patch could disappear in couple hours after taking antihistamine tablets ok.
Well I guess that's it for my "new-found allergies" documentation. I have horrible memory and that's partially a reason I keep a blog! It's a horrendously lengthy post so I sincerely appreciate everyone that had managed to reach the end.
Until next time!
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