Talking Allergies

Thought I would start a new thread for this one
I am safe with shea nut butter on my skin.. I know that some people are not though

Has anyone else noticed how much the ingredients in their(the body shop) Body Butter changes?
I recently bought myself a new large coconut and its safe, however the small one i got with my free gift has both macadamia& brazil nut oil
While I was at a friends this weekend I was looking at her passionfruit and it was safe for me, but the one I looked at in store was not!
I had avoided the body shop for a while because of the number of products with almond or other nut oils jsut got back into looking at things there, but now I wonder with all the changes on the lables am I taking a chance when I buy these?

Also does anyone know anything about Marula Nut Oil which is used in some of their cosmetics? eyeliner I know for sure. from what I have found out about it is from the kernel of an african fruit, comes from the same large family as mango but also cashew.....

Yes, buying lotions and cosmetics can be tricky. I haven't worried so much about this in the past---I wouldn't buy anything with nut products in it (with the exception of almond oil and shea butter), but I didn't go out of my way to figure out the ingredients. Now I'm wondering whether allergens in cosmetics might make us more sensitive to those allergens regardless of whether we react or not.

What made me wonder was some allergy tests I had done in the past year----I had this theory (based on the fact that I used to be okay with almond extract) that I probably wasn't allergic to almonds---I would never eat almonds, but thought almond oil was okay and didn't avoid it in cosmetic products. (Turns out that there aren't almonds in almond extract so this was not a good test!) Also, I thought sesame oil was fine as I wasn't allergic to sesame as far as I knew.

Surprisingly, my skin test was *very* positive for almonds and for sesame. (I wasn't surprised that I tested positive for almonds---just that the weal was worse than for peanuts---although peanuts was done on a separate day so maybe I'm comparing apples and oranges here as I'm sure the amount we react varies from day to day.) I don't think I've been exposed to any nuts within the past 15 years or so.....but I have used handcream with almond oil in it. Also, while years ago I used to eat sesame seed buns without a problem, I haven't had sesame for years. I didn't know there was a possibility that I was allergic though. I wonder if a night cream I was using every day sensitized me to sesame. I don't react at all to the cream, however.

So...I'm wondering: could the use of cosmetic products with allergens lead to a more severe reaction when the allergen is ingested even if the cosmetic product itself does not seem to cause a reaction?

That's one thing I am thankful to be a guy.

Well, the Body Shop does carry a line of products for men

Yes, but guys generally don't use product like that unless they are gay or have a wife that buys it for them or tell them to use it. I had a friend who only used soap. He never used shampoo. Just soap in his hair. Guys don't know about product like that and most of the time, we don't care.

I have been given Body Shop products and wont even open them. They go straight to my sister in law, who can use anything. Body Shop ingredient list is just to unpredictable for me and I also worry about cross contamination that may not be listed. Just not worth the risk for me. I just stick with standard issue, tryed and true products that work for me.

tryed and true products that work for me.

I've heard someone else say the exact same thing before....Oh yeah, me. :p

I wrote to The Body Shop today to see what they said about their products and tree nut ingredients. Here is what The Body Shop Consumer Help Desk emailed me:

Thank you for taking the time to write to us.

Because anaphylactic allergies are dangerous, we cannot guarantee any of our products to be nut-free. Our manufacturers use the same equipment to make different products so we cannot guarantee against the possibility of cross-contamination in any of the products we carry.

We hope this information helps. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Consumer Help Desk
The Body Shop Canada

i think the body shop needs to be put into the "needs improvment" catagory, especailly considering how when they frist open their marketing was all aboutfriendly they are to animals, well what about the humans they market to? cause seriously yikes, kind of makes me glad i haven't bought from the body shop since my skin allergies started to go snakey about five years ago now

I know. It makes my heart sad - I just love the pink grapfruit and olive scented lines. Ah well. I had to give my cleanser and moisturizer to my daughter - almond oil. I have resorted back to using plain baking soda as a gentle exfoliating daily cleanser and olive oil as my moisturizer. plain, simple and cheap.