COVID warning: Previous infection can make you allergic to hair dye

Getting infected by COVID isn’t as simple as getting a cold and being done with it in a couple of days. The virus has the ability to affect and change the state of different organs in our body, leaving lingering effects that last for months on end.

Changing our immune system

According to the BBC, scientists at Imperial College London are now investigating how the disease is ‘reprogramming our immune system.’ The broadcasting company spoke with Professor Danny Altman, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, who explained:

Amongst the many bizarre and horrible things that the virus does, one of the things it seems to be able to do is just reprogramme and return and tune up and tune down different parts of the immune response.

New allergies to hair dye

Meanwhile, another after-effect of COVID infection has been brought to light by hairdressers and beauticians in the country. They’ve noticed that a number of their regular clients have been experiencing new allergic reactions to hair dye. What did all the clients have in common? They were infected with COVID prior to their latest appointment.

Stacey Klein, hairdresser and salon owner, told BBC that she had been seeing a lot of reports from other stylists claiming that clients, who usually tolerated hair dye products well, were suddenly experiencing allergic reactions after they were infected by COVID.

Given the concerning reports, the National Hair and Beauty Federation (NHBF) released a new guidance mandating all salons to do a patch test on clients to see if an allergic reaction festers. Gemma, a client of Klein's who had been dying her hair for the past 10 years, was also asked to do the same. The day after the test, she noticed something strange. She said:

The following day, I felt a really hot burning sensation behind my ear which progressively got worse to the point where it had taken layers of my skin from behind my ear.

She wasn’t the only client that experienced this sudden reaction. Klein confirmed:

We’d also had a few other clientele coming back with the same issue so it wasn’t just an isolated incident.