Woman Shares on Allergic Reaction After Dyeing Hair With Henna to Warn Others

A beauty and health vlogger, Chemese Armstrong, has shared her ugly experience after dying her hair with henna to warn others of its dangers.

Chemese had wanted a more natural option after encountering a traumatic hair dyeing experience, and her dermatologist advised her to try henna. She subsequently quizzed staff at a Salon in Austin, Texas and was told that the henna dye is all-natural and safe. So, she booked an appointment.

She got to the salon and briefed her stylist about her past allergic reaction to hair dye and they did a strand test. There was no reaction after 30 minutes, so, they applied the henna dye which had to sit for 2-4 hours before she washed it out at home.

Unfortunately, after leaving the salon, Chemese felt as though her scalp was on fire. Her face soon began to swell, her eyes swelled shut, and the reaction continued to get worse even after she had washed out the dye and used a clarifying shampoo.

If you been following me for a while you know that I tried to be as transparent as possible. You will also know that my 100 days of just juice and smoothies has been very important to me. Today is day 100!!! The past couple of days has been extremely rough. I mention before that I die my hair with Henna because of my research and what I was told that it was supposed to be completely natural and chemical free but it wasn’t and I had a severe allergic reaction as you can see from the pictures. I’m not posting this for any advice or any negative comments. I’m fully aware of what these pictures look like. I had to endure this nightmare. If you do not have anything nice to say please keep strolling. I want to let everyone that pray for me or send me well-wishes know what was going on. I was in severe pain from my scalp burning and itching with my face completely’s swollen to the point I was unrecognisable. The most scary part about this whole thing is that my eyes was completely swollen shut where I couldn’t see for 2 days. My doctor was afraid that it was going to start affecting my breathing which that didn’t happen and as of today my eyes are open and I can see again but my face is still very swollen (I don’t look like myself). I’m not in any more pain and I feel things are heading in the right direction. I hate that this had to happen but now I’m even more focus on making sure that my health is number one priority. Once I get back to looking like myself again I will make a more detailed video on my YouTube channel. Thanks again for all the love, support, and well wishes.

A photo posted by Chemese (@chemese) on Mar 9, 2016 at 12:49pm PST

She told Yahoo Beauty,

“I’m still not one hundred percent yet. I’m weak and very tired but I’m taking it one day at a time. I don’t know the brand of the henna because it was done at a salon….This just made me realize that I need to pay more attention to what I put in my body and what I put on my body. I like to think of myself of a naturalist and I just want to be more mindful about [that].”