It’s been two weeks since you met your new girlfriend, and things are going great!
You’ve been out on a few dates, and now you’re meeting her for a romantic dinner.
She’s getting off work soon and will drop by your place so you can head to the restaurant,
so you wash up and wait by the door.
Soon enough, there’s a knock!
Your girlfriend’s here, but it’s clear she’s had a rough day at work.
“I know, I look like a mess.
There was an unexpected food fight.”
“You look beautiful.
Do you want to wash up before we go, though?”
“Thanks.”
She sits down and opens her purse, pulling out a small bottle of cleaner.
“Oh, It’s fine.”
You say.
“I have some soap upstairs.
She blushes.
“No, I should use mine.
This is embarrassing, but...I’m allergic to soap.”
Whaaaaaaaat?
(Exaggerated expression of shock here)
Yes, it turns out you can be allergic to soap!
The substance that keeps most people clean can cause skin irritation or even serious
allergic reactions for a small number of people.
This rare allergy means people have to be careful around hand soap, liquid hand sanitizers,
and even laundry detergent!
You don’t really have time to think too much about it, though, as your girlfriend
is up and down the stairs, looking stunning before you can think of your next question.
Your reservation is at 7, so naturally you’re waiting for a table at 7:30.
As your girlfriend checks her phone, you can’t stop thinking about the bath bomb she just
dropped.
“So, are you going to get sick if you touch soap?
Are you going to - “
“Oh, no!
This isn’t like a peanut allergy, where people can die in minutes if they’re exposed
to it.
It’s more of a skin condition - allergic contact dermatitis.
It all started when I was a kid…”
I was constantly getting rashes when I was young.
My skin would turn red and painful when I took a bath, my hands would get blotchy and
swollen when I would wash them, and even when I wasn’t washing directly I’d constantly
be scratching an itch!
It drove me crazy.
My parents took me to one skin specialist after another, but I didn’t get an answer
until they went to an allergist.
It was like a light went on!
Once we knew I was allergic to soap, I was able to change my habits and I didn’t constantly
feel like I had been running through a poison ivy bush.
Dinner conversation eventually shifts away from allergies, and more towards your taste
in music.
You watch your girlfriend clean up with some antibacterial wipes - which don’t contain
soap, apparently! - and you get a kiss goodnight before saying farewell.
It’s a few days later, and the big game is coming up!
You’re planning to watch together with some friends, which means there’s one essential
stop - the supermarket.
Time to stock up on everything you’ll need, including chips, dip, and buffalo wings.
But your girlfriend has another stop to make.
“Hold on, I need to pick up some shampoo.”
Grabbing your cart, she heads right past the hair care aisle and into the organic section,
where there’s a small selection of cleaning products.
“This is the only place where I can find cleaning products that are free of my allergens.”
“How do you know what you’re allergic to?”
“I didn’t for a long time, until my allergen did a patch test.
That’s where they exposed my skin to a bunch of potential allergens in tiny amounts, until
they saw which caused skin irritation.
Soap ingredients are like a mad scientist’s lab of potions, so there are a ton of possibilities
that can cause allergies.”
She scans the bottle's ingredients.
“See?
Paraben-free.
That’s the preservative I’m allergic to.
I also tested positive for allergies to some of the esters and ketones that made up fragrances,
so I try to buy fragrance-free soaps and shampoos.
Almost all cosmetic products contain one or the other, so organic products are the safest
bet for someone with a soap allergy.”
You’re learning a lot more about soap allergies than you ever expected, but you just remembered
you forgot one important thing.
“Wait, we forgot Avocados!
We need guacamole!”
You race out of the aisle and back towards the food.
The big game goes well into the night, and your team wins!
After all the celebration, your girlfriend is exhausted, and you decide to ask the big
question.
“It’s really late.
Do you want to stay the night and drive back tomorrow?”
“Sure!
I’ll just take a shower first.
I smell like nachos.”
“Wait, do you have your supplies?
All my soaps and shampoos are the standard stuff.”
She pulls out a selection of small bottles from her bag.
“I always keep some travel supplies with me.
I never know when I’ll need them.
Especially on the go - public bathrooms only have liquid soap that’s full of preservatives
and fragrances with no ingredients available.
I always have some hand sanitizer, a little container of liquid soap, and a travel-sized
shampoo bottle, so I’m good to go.
Oh, and a tube of anti-itch cream, just in case I get exposed.
“
You know there aren’t any fragrances in her soap, but your girlfriend sure smells
great when she collapses into bed after showering.
As she sleeps off the excitement of the big game next morning, you’re up bright and
early.
You notice her stained hoodie on your chair, the victim of an unfortunate nacho incident.
You need to do a load of laundry, so you toss it in - a nice gesture, you think!
Not so much.
As she’s packing to leave, you notice your girlfriend start scratching her arms.
She pulls up her sleeve to reveal nasty red welts.
She seems to be breathing more heavily than usual.
“Wait...did you wash my hoodie?”
“Yeah, it got nacho’d last night.
I didn’t use any soap, though.”
“Did you use laundry detergent?”
“Yeah, but - wait, is laundry detergent the same as soap?”
She quickly pulls the hoodie over to her head and tosses it to the side.
“Quick, bring my bag upstairs!
I need to get this off my skin.”’
You follow her upstairs as she grabs a washcloth and wets it, carefully scrubbing off her forearms.
She applies some allergen free soap to thoroughly clean her skin, then rubs on some anti-itch
cream to relieve the rash.
She pops some Benadryl to clear up her airways, then collapses on your couch.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, if I catch it quickly and clean myself thoroughly after being exposed, I can shorten
the reaction a lot.
I got my allergies triggered so often as a child before it was discovered that I know
the routine pretty well.”
“How long does it usually take to pass?”
“Depends on how long I’ve been exposed and how concentrated the soap is.
Usually an hour or so for something like this.”
You make sure she’s comfortable on your couch and bring her something to drink while
she’s recovering, apologizing about twenty times along the way.
It’s hard to believe something as common as soap can cause allergies - and can show
up in so many ways, like washing clothes.
“How do you wash your clothes without detergent?”
“A lot of the top detergent companies have allergy-safe detergents now, eliminating all
the preservatives and fragrances.
An important thing to remember is that a soap allergy is usually an allergy to the added
compounds in commercial soap, rather than the chemical makeup of the soap itself.”
Thankfully, she’s already forgiven you for your laundry blunder, and once she’s feeling
better you make plans to see each other again soon.
You don’t have any allergies - except the broccoli allergy you tried to convince your
mom of when you were seven - so this is all new for you.
But you’re learning fast, and you want to make this as easy for her as possible.
Before your next date, you’ve packed some antibacterial wipes and a little bottle of
hand sanitizer on you, in case she forgets hers or runs out.
You’ve switched up your own soap and shampoo supplies to be as preservative and fragrance-free
as possible - she’s not sensitive enough that you using soap could trigger her allergies,
but just to be safe.
Plus, you want her to have options when she comes to visit - which you’re hoping will
be happening more often!
Could you deal with a soap allergy?
We hope you don’t have an allergy to interesting video content, because we have many more for
you to watch.
Check out “I Got Stung By 50 Bees and I’m Allergic” for more crazy allergy stories,
or “Crazy Things a Doctor Removed From Inside Person’s Body” for other strange medical
conditions.
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