the evils of black henna

Four and a half years ago, i was blessed with the chance to go to india for a friend's wedding. It was an amazing experience. I've kept the joy and love of the country in my heart. The other long lasting thing i kept was an allergic reaction. In the traditional way, we had henna done for the wedding. The bride's older sister had this really awesome looking black henna put on her hands, which i decided to emulate.

My hands looked awesome---but i awoke the next morning in blistering 37 degrees Celcius to my hands on fire. The black had red along the edges and itched like it was no one's business. The pain only subsided when they were flush up against the straining airconditioner. The immediate solution (as we were out in Lucknow with a long train ride back to Delhi ahead of us) was to start on naturopathic treatment--blood thinners and some other nasty tasting drops. This did nothing for me. By the time we climbed on the train, i was drowning my hands in a sea of cortizone cream to no avail and threatening to flay them off with any sharp object i could find. The pain was really uncomfortable. i frantically texted my folks who discovered that i had been poisoned by something called PPD (phenylenediamine) which has a whole host of side effects such as blistering, intense itching, permanent scarring and permanent chemical sensitivities. Only between 3 and 15% of the population react to it. Lucky me.  Actually, very lucky me because in our group was a doctor who went to the pharmacy in Delhi the minute we were back and got me steroids to stop the reaction. I was on steroids for the better part of a couple weeks and my hands would light up red in the outline of the black henna for months afterwards.

Which brings us to today and why i am posting. Back to that chemical sensitivity thing. I have noticed two interesting things since the PPD incident. 1. Tattoos take longer to heal. The ones on my arms puffed up red much more intensely than the ones on my back from before the PPD incident. 2. The issue of today. I dyed my hair back to its natural color--a light brown over the weekend. I forgot until midway through the dying process that i was going to pay for it later and sure enough about an hour after i was out of the salon i started itching. My ears got dye on them and they are all red and swollen right now. A lot of websites talk about the potentially life threatening nature of using synthetic dyes after you are sensitive to PPD. I suppose i should have taken that more seriously. I really consider my "mild" reaction to it a result of the steroids. But, i do think that given i am still itching today (2 days later) i should consider a different way to play Rainbow Brite with my hair.

Beware PPD.

Oh, and love and prayers to my very preggo/in labor girlfriends Tali and Mara.