In
ITVl'S You Ruined My Looks, a woman reveals how she
ended up close to death after a simple salon appointment
turned into a horrifying experience. Proof that we
tamper with our looks at our peril!
Denise Andrade was excited about her hair appointment
at a swish London salon. She was being treated by
her then-boyfriend, Jas, to a £100 makeover,
including a haircut, highlights and dye to lighten
her dark brown hair. Three days later, in October
1999, pretty Denise was rushed to hospital in fear
of her life, her head swollen and covered with weeping
blisters. Denise's story features in this week's You
Ruined My Looks, a startling ITV1 documentary about
makeovers that went wrong.
Denise
and Jas were initially pleased with her new look
but, by the following evening, Denise felt unwell.
'I couldn't sleep because my hair itched,' recalls
Denise, now 28, from Kent. 'It felt like somebody
was pulling my hair and my head was thumping. I
thought there must have been dye left in my hair,
but even after I washed it the itching didn't stop.'
Next
morning, Denise and Jas returned to the salon to
complain. 'The owner said it was just a reaction
to the dye and fobbed me off,' says Denise, who
works in the City of London. But, later that day,
she developed a temperature and weeping blisters
on her forehead. 'I couldn't even lift my head off
the pillow. Straight away, Jas called my mum, Susan,
who said, "Get her to hospital".'
On
three separate trips to hospital, Denise was treated
and sent home, assured that the swelling would go
down eventually. But it didn't, and three days after
the salon appointment, Denise's neck started to
swell, too. 'I couldn't eat or drink or sleep and
every time I moved my head I felt the fluid moving
from one side to the other. Mum called the doctor,
and as soon as he saw me he insisted I was rushed
to St Thomas's Hospital in London.'
Denise
spent the next two weeks being treated in hospital,
her head swollen to twice its normal size. 'When
my friends or family visited, they were in tears
looking at me. I was frightened, but I was just
in so much pain, I never saw myself in the mirror,
so I never realised how bad I looked,' recalls Denise.
Although the swelling began to subside after a week,
it was three months before Denise recovered fully.
Tests
revealed that Denise had suffered a severe allergic
reaction to the hair dye, even though she'd had
her hair coloured many times before. No one can
explain why Denise reacted so badly on this occasion,
but she's understandably angry that the hairdresser
hadn't done a skin test -that is, trying the dye
on a patch of skin for a reaction before applying
it to her scalp. 'Hairdressers need to be more cautious
about skin-testing their clients, because it can
be a life- threatening thing,' points out Denise.
'I hope I can help people by telling my story.'
After
her terrifying ordeal, it will come as no surprise
that Denise has opted to be a natural brunette from
now on. 'When you go to a hair salon, you don't
ever think about ending up in hospital,' she sighs.
'I'll never get my hair dyed again because I'm playing
with my life here.'
VICKI
POWER
Source:
Daily Mail. 13 May 2003
Tuesday,
13 May 2003
'Hair
dye nearly ruined my life'
by
WARREN BULL and BETH HALE, Daily Mail
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When
Denise Andrade booked an appointment at a top salon,
she eagerly anticipated her new look.
The
City worker paid £150 to have her hair dyed
and blonde highlights put through it.
At
first the routine treatment appeared to be a success.
But it soon turned into a nightmare as Miss Andrade
developed a severe allergic reaction that left her
in hospital for three weeks.
The
28-year-old's face and neck swelled so badly that
her attractive features were barely recognisable.
As
her irritated scalp began to blister Miss Andrade
was struck down with blood poisoning from the chemicals
in the dye.
Then,
while at her lowest point, she caught chicken-pox
and had to be placed into an isolation ward.
Miss
Andrade, from Bexleyheath, South-East London, had
booked an appointment with the owner of the Central
London salon.
"I
just wanted to brighten my hair up," she said.
"He was going to give me a 'new look'."
But Miss Andrade was not offered a dermatological
test to check how her skin would react to the treatment.
"He
also got a junior to mix a dye, which I felt uneasy
about," she said. "But the end result
was fantastic. I was pleased."
By
the time she got home Miss Andrade's head had begun
to itch. "It got to the extent that I felt
something was pulling my hair constantly."
she said. "The pain was unbelievable. I was
popping Nurofen like Smarties."
She
contacted the hairdresser, but was told that the
irritation was a reaction to the dye, which should
be washed out.
The
reaction worsened the next day, with blisters breaking
out on her head. "I could feel my skin stretching,"
she said. "My forehead had swollen like an
alien."
She
was given antihistamine tablets by doctors, but
her symptoms became worse. "My face started
swelling to double its normal size, I couldn't see
and I had turned into this horrible beast."
She
was taken St Thomas' Hospital in London and given
a cocktail of medications including steroids to
fight the reaction.
"They
said it could be touch and go, and I was kept in
for two weeks," said Miss Andrade.
As
she began to improve, she developed chicken-pox
and spent a week in isolation. She received flowers
from the salon - but no compensation.
It
took a year for her to be weaned off the steroids.
Now, three years on, she says: "I don't stay
away from hairdressers, I just use one I trust."
Miss
Andrade's experience will feature on ITV1's You
Ruined My Looks, tomorrow at 10.30pm.
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10-16
May 2003 page 23.
