Me: “Yeah.”

RPG: “That’s a random thing to be allergic to.”

Me: “No more than anything else.”

RPG: “So, like, anything with corn?”

Me: “Yeah.”

RPG: “It’s in everything!”

Me: “Yeah.”

He thinks for a few moments, eyes darting around like the mouse in his head got trapped in a maze. And then he asks my favorite question. The one with such an obvious answer.

RPG: “What do you eat?!”

Me: “Everything else.”

I’ve always found it nearly impossible to do dishes because my hands would turn bright red and swell. I figured it was a combination of the orange soap and too much water. When Orion and I moved in together a friend gave us a bottle of the Good Stuff as a housewarming gift. And I love it.

After using the Good Stuff for 8 months I now know that the reactions were mostly to the aforementioned Nasty Orange Soap of Doom. I can do a few loads a day without my hands becoming red and the skin peeling off! Major improvement.

Now Orion has a hard time convincing me to let him do dishes.

Nourish-mint. This is the only lip balm I’ve ever used that doesn’t make my skin react. It also lasts long enough that I only need to apply it two or three times a day. While it’s $15/tube, it’s worth it to me. Goodbye crocodile kisses, hello one more illusion of being normal.

Lip Glaze Lip gloss that doesn’t feel like algae sludge, and isn’t so shiny that your mouth seems laminated. It also does a great job of keeping your lips moist. I really only wear this for ‘occasions’, like office lunches, dinner parties, or demonstrating at a conference. So… maybe 5 times a year?

Petal Essence Single eye color, in Willow. Another product I completely love. Eyeshadow that I have no reaction to at all. And the Willow color is awesome, the best I can describe it is titanium with tiny flecks of rainbow mixed in.

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Besides the products, the customer service is excellent. First they give you delicious tea – I’m a sucker for yummy tea – and then ask you if you need help with anything. They’re never pushy. If you have skin sensitivities they’re understanding and won’t challenge or cajole you ['oh, but you haven't tried our fragrance!']. They also don’t assault you with their products by spraying you the moment you walk in the door.

What make up works particularly well for your skin?

1. Take a Test – Bear in mind there are several kinds and they are not always accurate. As a child they said I was not allergic to apples [though I am] but I was allergic to horse hair [though I don't sneeze around horses].
2. Medicine Kit – Such as an EpiPen or possibly Benadryl.
3. Kitchen – Watch out for cross contamination.
4. Food shopping – Read every single little label, even if it’s something you’ve bought before. It’s even more interesting if you look up the ingredients later and find out what exactly what they are.
5. Restaurants – Sometimes checking the menu isn’t enough. An allergy card [the link is an interactive .pdf] can be very helpful for the waiting staff. One method is to have the waiter take it to the chef to find out what you can eat from the menu – for me there tend to be one or two items.
6. Air Travel – Especially because of the peanuts.

They’re little tubes of super fine grade sandpaper that you use to gently rub off hair and dead skin. It was a little irritating but didn’t cause a giant rash like razors do. Since my local drugstore doesn’t carry them anymore I ordered some, hoping to provide you with a review and possibly a picture of the results. I received them in the mail and will not be trying them.

Although the front of the package says “No Chemicals” it also states “Cucumber Melon Scent”. Last I checked anything with a physical presence has a chemical composition; including fragrance.

If I were were willing to sacrifice my comfort for the sake of science I’d try them, and take pictures, but I’m being selfish and keeping my skin intact.

I’ve e-mailed the company, simply to let them know that I disappointed that I can no longer use the product, and thus keep them informed that a small portion of their customer base doesn’t want their limbs to smell like a produce aisle. In the meantime, I wish I knew what grade sandpaper the mittens are made of so that I could order some from the hardware store.

• Polysensitivity – patients with multiple contact allergies
• UV light sensitivity in patients with atopic dermatitus “The compromised skin barrier in AD is especially vulnerable to UV radiation exposure.”
• AD: Genetics or environment? “Recently, it was demonstrated that Filaggrin (=filament-aggregating protein, FL) is a major gene for atopic eczema.”

These are exciting to me because it proves that people are giving eczema attention and are trying to discover as much as they can about it, unlike what I’ve always been told by dermatologists – “It isn’t fatal, so it’s not a priority.” I’m also happy to hear that someone has actually figured out what genetic happenstance is involved in eczema.

Item: Natural All Purpose Cleaner
Experience: My bathtub is difficult to keep clean, everything sticks to it, and I can’t use Clorox or anything like it so I was excited about this product. I sprayed down the tub, let it sit for a few minutes and rinsed it down. I did that three times over 15 minutes and the tub was almost like new! A few days later I filled the tub to take a bath and realized that I hadn’t rinsed all of the cleaner out. So I didn’t take a bath, but the water didn’t hurt my skin any more than water usually does. On other surfaces this cleans great as well, with a little more patience than standard chemical cleaners, and leaves almost no smell whatsoever.

Item: Facial Tissues, 2 ply, 85 each
Experience: I chose these for O because he has allergies, but jumped for the ‘free-of-everything’ type so that I can use them as well. At first these were very difficult to remove from the box because they were so tightly packed. After a couple dozen were removed it was easy though. My nose loves them – no lotion, no fragrance. They aren’t super thick, or very soft, but they work great.

Item: Natural Laundry Detergent Liquid, Free & Clear – 50 fl oz
Experience: No allergic reaction! The clothes come out smelling like fabric and nothing else, very impressive. They’re softer than with my regular detergent, Synthrapol, and I’ll keep buying this product in the future. *EDIT* It appears that this original formula has been discontinued and now they only offer the concentrated version. I haven’t tried it yet but read several reviews that it removed a lot of dye from black clothes, so I’ll get some and test it.

Decision: I highly recommend these products and will buy them again in the future. Next time I have a chance I think I’ll be trying their New Fabric Softener as well. [I can't remember the last time I was able to use fabric softener...]

I tried something new for lunch today, the delicious Amy’s Organic Black Bean Vegetable soup. Their inspiration was a soup in Puerto Escondido, Mexico and this is probably the most Mexican black bean soup I’ve ever eaten from a US company. Astonishingly it has no tomatoes! Amy’s also makes excellent pizza by the way, I’m notoriously addicted to their Pesto.

P.S. A few hours after eating the soup I feel very sick in the way I do with an allergic reaction Maybe it was the corn, though I tried to avoid it, but I haven’t eaten anything else unusual today. I hate eating something that’s technically perfectly healthy and becoming ill afterwards. It’s very frustrating to never know what’s safe to eat or not. …this is why I eat certain french breads, ice creams and yogurts – I can rely on them to not make me sick.