Allergies seem to be our most unpredictable invaders. They attack us from nowhere, without a warning and leave us perplexed for reason. The worst part of the story is that an allergy might not be physically as harmful but the discomfort it causes is simply intolerable.

For example, skin allergy is something that is very common, very irritating and can even cause embarrassment.  Skin allergy symptoms may appear on your skin after eating some foods. This reaction is commonly called hives or rashes, and usually appears within 48 hours after the initial exposure to the allergen.

Many times you just can’t figure out the cause of your attack. Though in some cases, it is easy to point out allergy to a certain food item or medication, but mostly it is difficult to point out the exact cause of the allergic attack.

Symptoms commonly seen in skin allergies are:

• Redness
• Itching
• Blistering
• Swelling
• Hives and rashes

If you want to solve the puzzle, the most important thing to do is to review in retrospect the events just before the attack occurred. Did you have the same medicine just a few hours before you had that urticaria? The same could also apply for various other triggers such as food items and cosmetics.

Perfumes and colognes form a very essential part of our lifestyle today. However, it is a sad fact that these fragrances have been found very much responsible for triggering off many types of skin allergies, ranging from the mild to the most severe ones. Commercial fragrances such as perfume, cologne, soap, candles, cosmetics, skin lotions, etc. contain various chemicals. These chemicals can cause allergic reactions to those who are sensitive. Some known problems include difficultly breathing, asthma and skin rashes.

Although the vast majority of the ingredients (estimated to be around 2,000) used to make fragrances are completely harmless, around 24 commonly used substances are known allergens. And these could cause a small proportion of eczema sufferers, or those with sensitive skin, to break out in a rash when their skin is in contact with such substances.

For example, studies have shown that Balsam of Peru, a very common ingredient in fragrances, is found to be the major cause of skin allergies. Additionally, the Fragrance mix is also considered to be one of the major causes of skin allergy. Fragrance mix is basically a group of the eight most common fragrance allergens found in foods, cosmetics, insecticides, antiseptics, soaps, perfumes and dental products.

At the moment there is no obligation for the manufacturers to label which substances are included in the mixture, so consumers do not know which perfumes could cause them problems.

You should avoid using perfumes or any other fragrances if you have sensitive skin and you don’t know what it is sensitive to. More than 800 perfumes have been launched in the last decade, and fragrance producers are notoriously secretive about the formulas used to produce each distinctive smell.

If the fragrances were labelled properly, consumers could then take allergic ‘patch tests’ to work out which ingredients were not tolerated. But at this moment you can’t do that because you don’t know what your skin is allergic to as there is no obligation for the manufacturers to disclose the ingredients on the label. So the best solution for those who have sensitive skin is to avoid using perfumes at all.