Think you have a coconut allergy? Keep reading to find out what you can do about it!
A couple of weeks ago I started to get itchy.
And before you starting thinking up some witty one-liner, I shower daily, often more than once.
And I use soap.
And shampoo.
And there-in lies the problem.
Contents
Apparently most "natural" bath & beauty and even cleaning and laundry products are filled with coconut derived ingredients. And I apparently am allergic to them - at least when they touch my skin thanks to a coconut allergy.
And so every day I would get rashes on my arms and legs that were incredibly itchy. An antihistamine would take the itch away for a couple of hours then the rash would return. Often in a new location but always on my arms & legs and nowhere else. Mostly concentrated around my wrists and ankles, but it certainly didn't discriminate against other parts of my arms & legs.
It's been a miserable few weeks. Thankfully my mom suggested the coconut possibility pretty early on and I systematically began to remove it from my routine, which was easier said than done.
I don't have a great picture of the rash but it was small itchy bumps. They did not appear like hives do, they were smaller but still raised. They would appear in clumps and focus around my wrists and ankles but did appear in patches on my forearms, calves and knees.
Our switch to natural home and beauty products
Last year we began making a change in our household to eliminate chemicals from our household products. From laundry detergent to spray cleaners to shampoo and everything in between. We did a major overhaul and threw out everything that had something in it that we couldn't identify as safe.
For our laundry, we used either Seventh Generation products or ECOS by Earth Friendly Products. I preferred the ECOS because it had fewer ingredients and I could get a huge bottle at Costco for like $14. It also made our laundry smell better than the Seventh Generation.
For most of the rest of my household cleaning, I had taken to using Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap. This amazing liquid soap is made from all-natural organic certified ingredients. I would mix it with water in a spray bottle and use it for our household cleaner. I made foaming hand soap with it. I even used it to shampoo my hair.
For my bath and body products, as I mentioned I was using Dr. Bronner's as a shampoo but I also liked to use Everyday Coconut brand shampoo and conditioner for convenience. For soap, I would use either the Everyday Coconut body wash or a bar soap like Kiss My Face Olive Oil Bar Soap. Deodorant was a bit trickier to find one that worked well, but I stumbled across a little company called DeoDad Natural Deodorant. It worked great but the main ingredient was coconut much like most everything else I was using. Even my lip balm had coconut ingredients!
But coconut as an ingredient is not limited to natural products.
No ma'am.
Even the chemical filled products have ingredients that may have been derived from coconuts.
How common is a coconut allergy
True coconut allergies are pretty rare. Despite ending with the letters NUT, a coconut is classified as a fruit, not a tree nut. So those with nut allergies, usually aren't allergic to coconut.
And an allergy to eating coconut is quite different from a contact allergy. A contact allergy to coconut is more common and usually causes an itchy rash on the skin called contact dermatitis.
Contact dermatitis
The Mayo Clinic describes contact dermatitis as such:
Contact dermatitis is a kind of skin inflammation that occurs when substances touching your skin cause irritation or an allergic reaction. The resulting red, itchy rash isn't contagious or life-threatening, but it can be very uncomfortable.
Clearing up contact dermatitis can be as simple as removing the offending substance from use. Which sounds simple, but when it comes to coconut, it's not that easy because it has become so widely used in products of all kinds. And once you do finally remove the substance from use, it can take weeks to see an improvement in the rash and subsequent itch.
WEEKS.
And it did.
Take weeks.
But I am finally seeing an improvement from this coconut allergy.
I can't tell you how nice it is to not be itchy.
Ingredients to avoid
It's hard to know for sure if an ingredient is, in fact, derived from coconut. Some will stand out for sure because it will say "coconut oil" or "coconut milk" or start with "coco" or "coca" but most are hidden under other names.
Below is a list of potential ingredients to look out for and avoid if you believe that you have a contact allergy to coconut. You may want to avoid palm based products as well as they are related.
- 1,2 Octanediol
- 2 Phenoxyethanol
- Ammonium Lauryl Sulphate
- Capryl Glycol
- Caprylic Acid
- Caprylic Glycol
- Caprylic/Capric
- Caprylic/Capric Triglycerides
- Caprylyl Glycol
- Ceteareth-20
- Cetearyl Alcohol
- Cetearyl Glucoside
- Ceteth-20 Phosphate
- Cetyl Alcohol
- Cetyl Esters
- Cocamide MEA
- Cocamidopropyl Betaine
- Cococaprylate/Caprate
- Coco Glucoside
- Cocomide DEA
- Coconut cream
- Coconut diethanolamide (CDFA)
- Coconut milk
- Cocos nucifera (another name for coconut oil)
- Coconut Oil
- Decyl Glucoside
- Disodium Cocamphodiprop
- Disodium cocoamphodiacetate
- Emusifying Wax
- Glyceryl Caprylate
- Glyceryl cocoate
- Hexyl Laurate
- Laureth-3
- Isopropyl Myristate
- Lauric Acid
- Lauryl Glucoside
- Lauryl Alcohol
- Lauramide DEA
- Myristic Acid
- Olefin Sulfonate
- Organic Sodium Cocoate
- PEG - 7 Glyceryl Cocoate
- PEG -100
- PEG – 100 Stearate
- Phenoxyethanol
- Polysorbate 20
- Sodium Cocoate
- Sodium Coco-Sulfate
- Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate
- Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate
- Sucrose Stearate
- Sodium Lauroamphoacetate
- Sodium Laureth Sulfate
- Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinat
- Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
- Sodium Myreth Sulfate
- Sodium Stearate
- Sorbitan Stearate
- Stearyl Alcohol
- Stearalkonium chloride
- Sucrose Cocoate
- TEA-Laureth Sulfate
- Vegetable Cetearyl Glucose
- Vegetable Glycerine
You really have to turn into a detective to find products that are free from allergens if you suspect a contact coconut allergy. I have taken to making my own cleaners and detergent and using bar soap and a mineral deodorant.
I was concerned that I would now be known as the stinky lady (a la what's that smell?) but so far everything is cleaning pretty well.
All humor aside, it was that frustrating because I really didn't know that it was working until one day I woke up and the rash was gone.
Overall I have been pleasantly surprised by how well simple household ingredients can clean. It's amazing that most of the products on the shelves these days have so many ingredients when just a few can do just as good of a job - and not cause people to have an uncomfortable itchy rash.
What I use
This blog is a great resource for products and information as well.
Do you have or suspect that you have a coconut allergy?
Coconut allergy printable
This free printable is great to take with you when you go shopping. It has that long list of ingredients to avoid and a spot where you can write down the products you find that don't contain coconut based ingredients.
Click the image below and it will open a PDF file that you can print from your computer.
Brieann
This happened to me, from "ingestion" of a toothpaste that contained sodium cocoyl glutamate. For years i have been tolerating it with no reactions and then out of the blue, i developed the exact rash you describe and show. It is such a shame as you correctly identified this ingredient is in a lot of "natural" products. I also determined last year, another ingredient, sodium lauroyl sarcosinate, in toothpaste again, created the exact same rash when "ingested." Thank you for sharing your experience.
Jann Schott
Boy howdy I can so relate to this post! I developed an allergy to coconut in 2007 when I had a piece of German chocolate cake & started itching around the nose & tingling in my mouth. So I stopped eating coconut.
Then about 4 years later I decided to bathe with something that had coconut oil in it. I had hives all over my body & was put on Steroids to calm the itching.
Last year (2020) I had a yeast infection so I bought an over the counter 3 day pack of inserts to cure the infection. I had a horrible reaction read the ingredients & discovered Cetyl Alcohol is coconut derived. I again went on steroids to combat the itching & rash.
I found a couple Etsy shops that have coconut free soap & shampoo bars. Life is better omitting coconut.
I'm also allergic to Sulfites, which are in wine, sulfa drugs, morphine, & I cannot tolerate Splenda, AKA Sucralose (the yellow packet of artificial sweetener.) Sucralose is being added to a lot of toothpastes now. There's a natural toothpaste that's from a company called Redmond's that I can use because it doesn't have Sucralose.
Ana
Hoping this will help someone out. Boy oh boy has it been a frustrating month. Sometimes I just get so defeated. I have a food and skin allergy to coconut and derivatives and feel like I am constantly discovering products I thought were safe actually aren't.
That being said, hand and body wash is nearly impossible, I have found TRUE LOVE SOAP on etsy. Jayne is super awesome and helpful. Every product in her etsy shop is palm, coconut, and tree nut free. She is super helpful in offering suggestions. She has paste deodarant, shampoo and shaving bars, other soap bars, lotion, etc.
It has been a bit of a god send.
Ana