Hi
I have been dying my hair a very dark brown since the 80's but went through a period of a few years of leaving it all well alone. However now I am getting a bit greyer than I want to be and have started using root touch up kits and some of the darker, semi-permanent colours.

However, I am really nervous about the ppd allergy business, especially after having read about the 2 recent cases in the news of women who have suddenly had a reaction out of the blue. I know it is rare and I have never had a reaction so far (despite my having asthma and eczema so perhaps am more of a higher risk!). I always do a skin patch test which is OK but I am trying to find something that does not have any of the nasties in it, just incase. I know that the natural hair dyes will not last anywhere near the same length of time on the hair (8-10 shampoos at the most) but I wondered if anyone had tried any they can recommend? I have shoulder length mid-brown hair and I am looking to go a bit darker.

This is a difficult one - although extreme reactions are rare, they do receive a lot of bad publicity when they do occur.

You're already doing the right thing in doing a skin test in advance and perhaps the only other things you can perhaps do is avoid any of the brands that have been involved in the extreme reaction cases and look into hypoallergenic (low reaction) hair dyes: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...1506l0.8.1l9l0

Have you tried henna? Its very permanant so make sure you reaaaally want to use it as it wont come out and requires a bit of research before you start to use it but there are no nasties in body art quality henna, leaves your hair feeling lovely and works out cheaper than buying root touch up kits every month or so.

Found this on the yahoo website this morning which should be of help Janie.

Lists some ppd free colours and organic colours at the bottom.

http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/is-hai...r-health-.html

Thanks very much for your helpful replies. I will investigate some of the options you have given.

As I mentioned I have been lucky so far with hair dye but because I have other allergies I might be sitting on a ticking time bomb, even though it is a rare occurrence. I just don't want to be grey yet!

I once had henna highlights put in by a salon back in the 80's before you could really buy from a big selection of interesting coloured dyes (it was just blondes and browns in those days!) and looking back at some of the photos it did look lovely, almost as if I was "lit up" even on dull days. That is something I would probably consider again.