Coconut Free!

After much itching and scratching (literally!) I have found coconut-free personal care products made in the UK! There are also free of many of the other ingredients like palm oil and it's derivatives.
Mistry's was set up by a pharmacist and uses ingredients totally different to the stuff found in the big stores. Have a look on their website:

http://www.houseofmistry.com/

If you, dear reader, find other similar suppliers/makers wherever you are, please contact me so I can make this into a worldwide list of products.

Allergies complicated by contamination.

"Made in a facility where (other) products are processed".
 You could be troubled by other products made on the same line, as making something like a conveyor totally clean involves a lot of downtime.

http://whatallergy.com/2013-10/dangerous-to-eat-almonds-with-peanut-allergy

Links to information on oils used in personal care

http://mokoshskincare.wordpress.com/2013/09/17/does-australia-have-any-genuinely-palm-oil-free-shampoo-or-conditioner/

http://mokoshskincare.wordpress.com/

Washing up liquid and other detergents.

I often sneeze when doing the washing-up, Fairy liquid being the worse offender. It also makes my hands dry and chapped, so I did use Cussons Morning Fresh: better on the skin, but still made me sneeze, but I found W5 concentrated washing up liquid in Lidl. It's cheap and you don't need to use a lot, but still sneeze, but not so much...I might still have some coconut traces somewhere, perhaps there's some in Lidl's Formil fabric detergent that I also use. I haven't checked it fully, but the perfume is a lot less pronounced than other products that sell for a lot more money. At least there is no SLS (sodium laurel sulphate) on the list on the bottle.

This site has some info on washing-up liquids (known as dish soap in the US):
http://whatallergy.com/2012-02/washing-up-liquid

What Allergy is a British website http://whatallergy.com/

Are you being made ill by allergies?

Think you may be allergic to coconut? It's used in most skin care products.....and toothpaste. So if you're gagging at night and have itchy skin, it could be coconut derivatives. I also have put a link to a list of all (or at least most) cosmetic and skin care ingredients.

Like Becky in the first link below, I have discovered that I appear to be allergic to coconut and it's derivatives used in food and personal care products, which are many and I think, overwhelming (see list in Becky's post). Some of the alternatives like palm oil are just as bad, together with soya used in many manufactured foods from bread to luxury chocolate.

In my case, I have not been able to eat coconut for many years, but recently I developed intense itching on my scalp, easing now I have given up using shampoo, using olive soap instead. I'm using it on my body and face as well. I also found a toothpaste free of coconut derivatives and my breathing and throat obstruction is slowly easing.

This is Becky's Blogger post: http://coconutallergy.blogspot.co.uk/

This is a forum I found with useful info: http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=2501

I found a list of seemingly all cosmetic ingredients for good or bad: http://www.paulaschoice.com/cosmetic-ingredient-dictionary/

Many of these ingredients do not have coco- or coca- in the name, like sodium laurel sulfate/sulphate (made from coconut and/or palm oil). Please note that cocoa in chocolate is not a problem.

Something else to think about: many of these products come from GM crops and may be grown in areas where rainforests are being destroyed to make space for them, particularly palm oil.

As I get more info, I will post it on here, but so far, after eliminating as much coconut as I can find, I am improving.

Andy.