Hair
dye allergy killed mother
THE wife of a chemist died from an allergic reaction after changing
her hair dye, an inquest was told. Narinder Devi, 39, had applied
Movida Shade 55 black, made by Laboratoire Garnier, to hide her
first grey hairs. Within minutes the mother-of-three complained
of discomfort and began pouring cold water over her head to relieve
the irritation.
An hour later Mrs Devi, a company director, was pronounced dead,
the coroner was told. Pathologists said she suffered a severe anaphylactic
shock "most likely" caused by the hair dye.
Geoffrey Skingsley, managing director of Garnier UK, said the company
had sold about 11 million Movida products since its launch in January,
1996 and had no record of similar incidents.
Mrs Devi's husband, Kapil, who runs three chemist shops in Birmingham,
England, said his wife, an asthmatic, had changed from Belle Color,
another Laboratoire Garnier product, to Movida.
He said: "As far as I know she used Belle Color probably every
two or three months but the last time she developed an irritation
of the scalp. I gave her some antihistamine tablets which alleviated
the symptoms and after that she made a decision to change the dye."
The inquest was told that the Movida product contained colourant
and a separate developer which must be mixed together. It is recommended
that a small amount of colourant should be tested on the arm 48
hours before being applied to the head.
Six other leading companies in the industry recommend that users
test the entire product, including the developer. After the jury
returned a verdict of misadventure Christopher Ball, the Birmingham
deputy coroner, urged the company to modify its sensitivity testing
directions on the product.
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