Thread: help! allergic reaction to costume?!

ahh this is insane! ive worn this costume before and nothing ever happened. i wore it tonight for a dress rehearsal for troupe, and i busted out in red splotches everywhere! it didn't itch or hurt, but i was red all over my back, stomach, arms and even face. wth?! and i didnt wear anything new or different than i normally do (no new makeup or body lotion or anything like that). and its just been stored in its usual costume bag it was always in, nothing new there either.

has this happened to anyone before? i have to wear this for a stage show THIS saturday! ..c::..cr.:
anything i can do to prevent this? i have 5 costume changes so hopefully something either quick or long lasting (this costume is one of the last of the costume changes)

Are you sure it's the costume and not just an allergic reaction to something else?

This happens to me pretty frequently and my best advice is to take Benedryl and put some cortisone cream on it.

It sounds like much of the rash is where the costume wasn't touching you....Unless you've used a different Frebreeze product or aired it out and it got all polleny? I'd look for a different trigger.

I agree, it doesn't sound like the costume.

You can develope an allergy to products, and foods, that you've weren't allergic to before.

I hope you're feeling better!

I had that happen to me once in 'club' wear instead of a costume - I just turned all red and blotchy. But it just happened that once and never happened again, so I still don't know what caused it.

May be that allergie happened because of colourant of material. It started to exude after you've got sweated?

Did you eat anything an hour or so before? I had a horrible allergic reaction to shrimp about 2 years ago. I have eaten shellfish all my life but suddenly became deathly allergic. Terrible to live in Florida and not be able to eat shellfish ever again.

all i ate was a bowl of cereal before (same cereal and type of milk i always do) but i had another dress rehearsal before i wore that costume and i didn't break out into red splotches for that one :(

Could it be a rash brought on by stress?

If the irritated areas correspond to parts of your body that weren't in direct contact with the costume, it is less likely to be the costume that caused the irritation, but not impossible. People report taking costumes apart and finding all kinds of unexpected stiffeners and padding materials, and it may be that something used in the costume is breaking down and releasing some chemical your body doesn't like. It's too bad you don't have more time to experiment, because on this time frame, you don't have a lot of options. Basically, you're looking at dealing with the reaction now (antihistamines, calamine lotion, oatmeal baths, etc.) and hoping it doesn't happen again this weekend. If you think it might help, or it happens again on Saturday, you could try taking a peek inside the lining or even washing the costume, but if the problem is some synthetic is degrading inside the costume, washing might make it worse, too.

That is pretty frustrating, to not know if the costume gave you the rash.
In case you can't figure it out in time, can you put in some new lining in it, like in the bra and around the hips and top thioghs to protect you from direct contact? It doesn't have to be perfectly sewn since it 's just for the one performance.

Originally Posted by SuzanneAzhaar

Could it be a rash brought on by stress?

that's what i was going to suggest. i break out in non-itchy hive type things when under lots of stress.

the splotches went away by the time i came home so they lasted maybe 30min-an hour? my bfs mom breaks out like this (and worse, she actually gets bruises) when she's under stress..but i wasn't particularly under stress tho..i mean its a hectic week but i haven't really altered my routine or anything

argh whatever happened, i hope it doesnt happen again this weekend :(

so frustrating! especially since there could be so many causes!

I've seen this happen (not to me, but I helped out in the university theater dept.) when costumes were not aired out properly and got a bit of mold/mildew going- airing it & possibly washing it generally took care of it. the mold issue wasn't bad enough to even smell, but for sensitive folks, it was enough to trigger some nasty reactions!

here's hoping it was just a random, freak event that won't recurr!

Could even be a reaction to lotion or cosmetics that are not very fresh. If you use different makeup for dance and it doesn't get used very often, it can develop molds, etc. I had to throw out an old tube of mascara that suddenly caused red eyes and itch.

Originally Posted by zfejzic

the splotches went away by the time i came home so they lasted maybe 30min-an hour? my bfs mom breaks out like this (and worse, she actually gets bruises) when she's under stress..but i wasn't particularly under stress tho..i mean its a hectic week but i haven't really altered my routine or anything

argh whatever happened, i hope it doesnt happen again this weekend :(

My skin gets red and I get hives when I am under a little stress (good or bad) for extended periods of time (ei: difficult work week, long weekend workshops, etc.) - this just might be your body's way of saying slow down a little bit. Sometimes just getting some R&R helps.

If it helps, you could always just gently wash the costume and hang it to dry before the show to make sure it is nice and clean on your skin.

Are you the first owner of the costume? if not, maybe the previous owner wore something you react to.

i switched skirts with a former troupe mate who moved away but she says she didn't put anything on it.. :(

i'm gonna inspect it tonight and give it a bath and see what happens. so strange!

Originally Posted by zfejzic

the splotches went away by the time i came home so they lasted maybe 30min-an hour? my bfs mom breaks out like this (and worse, she actually gets bruises) when she's under stress..but i wasn't particularly under stress tho..i mean its a hectic week but i haven't really altered my routine or anything

argh whatever happened, i hope it doesnt happen again this weekend :(

i sometimes don't even realize im stressed until my dog snaps at someone for coming too close to me (he can tell before i can sometimes) or i get zits.
was it really hot in there the second time? like a heat rash? ::grasping at straws::
good luck!

ok i put the costume back on for a bit and nothing, no redness whatsoever.

the mystery deepens...lol

no it wasn't all that hot, i was out of breath but i've never been that red before. i wasn't even red all over, just had blotches everywhere

just to be on the safe side...i think a brand new costume is in order.....;)

LOL its my troupe costume so we gotta wear it for this saturday's show. at least our other number is another costume completely.
i dont actually like this costume cuz its waayyy too short on me...when u ask for 'long' from egypt, they give everyone the same size basically. urgh. maybe my hatred for that costume made me break out? haha