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Mum Hospitalised For 36 Hours After 'Hair Dye Reaction' Causes Extreme Swelling

Mum Hospitalised For 36 Hours After 'Hair Dye Reaction' Causes Extreme Swelling

After being hospitalised for 36 hours, she’s now vowed never to dye her hair again

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

A mum was left hospitalised after she suffered a severe reaction to hair dye, which left her scalp covered in blisters and her eyes swollen shut.

Leonie Dee, 27, wanted to dye her hair using two different shades, using Schwarzkopf Live in 'Cosmic Blue' and 'Ultra Violet', costing her £4.79 each.

The mum-of-four says she carried out a patch test for both products as instructed to ensure she wouldn't have an adverse reaction.

SWNS

However, when Leonie came to dye the top half of her hair with the dark blue colour, she was horrified to find her skin started blistering and swelling.

After being hospitalised for 36 hours, she's now vowed never to dye her hair again.

SWNS

Leonie, who works as a cleaner for her local GP surgery in Aberaeron, Wales, said: "It was really scary - at one point they were worried that the swelling might move to the front of my throat.

"I even asked them at the hospital whether it shaving all my hair off would help. I was ready to do that if it would have made a difference.

"But the dye had already absorbed into my scalp, so there was nothing to do but wait for the swelling and the blisters to go down.

"I'm definitely never dyeing my hair again - I'm going to let it grow out and then just leave it."

Leonie said she used to dye her hair regularly as a teenager, but after having kids - now aged 11, 10, three and six months - she found she 'couldn't be bothered' and hadn't dyed it for seven years.

As she 'fancied a change' this time, she said she was 'really religious' about reading the pamphlet in the box and carrying out the patch test.

No issues came up with the patch test, so she went ahead and dyed the bottom half of hair purple.

"That went fine," she said.

"Then I gave it a couple of days before doing the blue hair dye on the top half of my head at about 5.30pm on Thursday.

SWNS

"When I woke up the next morning, my ears and the side of my neck had started swelling a bit - but I was able to manage it okay with just taking some anti-allergy tablets I had at home."

When Leonie woke up on Saturday morning, she found her hairline was 'covered in these big blisters' and her eyes were so swollen that she couldn't see anything.

She was rushed to Aberystwyth Hospital at 6pm on Saturday evening, spending 36 hours there being treated with steroids, anti-allergy tablets and creams, and was also put on a fluid drip.

Leonie said: "The blisters kept popping and oozing out blue dye.

"They had to keep the lights off above my hospital bed because the light was irritating my eyes. All I could do was sit and wait for it to get better."

SWNS

She returned home on Monday morning at 10.30am but the swelling hasn't gone down completely.

"I just need to keep taking the medication - and waiting for my hair to grow out and go back to normal," she said.

Leonie said she's since done more research into the Schwarzkopf hair dye, and found out that the darker colours such as 'Cosmic Blue' have a higher concentration of its active ingredients, which she thinks she reacted to.

She's also submitted an online questionnaire to Schwarzkopf in the first step towards making a complaint.

LADbible has contacted Schwarzkopf for comment.

Featured Image Credit: SWNS

Topics: UK News, News