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Shampoos, Soaps, Etc.

dkelm

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dkelm Rookie
dkelm
Posted

Will skin contact with things containing gluten cause reactions? I'm curious, because Matt has been dairy/soy free for 10 days now but is not getting better. Yesterday, about 10 hours after his bath he had worse diarrhea and he vomited. But there was a lot of white raised bumps all over his back and chest where the shampoo was. We use Aveeno, so that got me wondering.

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cdog7 Contributor
cdog7
Posted

I've heard different sides of this

scarlett77 Apprentice
scarlett77
Posted

IMHO there are certain topicals like detergents, lotions, shampoos, makeup, etc. that are incredibly easy to ingest. I prefer to err on the side of caution to make sure that stuff is gluten free. For example in the bath, when rinsing water will run down my son's face with traces of shampoo and quite possibly over his mouth. If he licks his lips or tries to drink the bath water he would ultimately be at high risk for getting glutened. Same reason why I make sure my makeup is gluten free...what if he gives me a big 'ol slobbery kiss on my cheek and my makeup wasn't gluten free? My son also sucks on his fingers too so I have to be extra vigilent when at anyone's house and make sure to clean his hands constantly.

Granted, it isn't usually a problem unless it is ingested. But I think that eczema and skin irritation can occur due to either the weakened immune system or secondary sensitivity. My youngest (who is not Celiac as far as we know) had some eczema patches on his skin. Since going gluten-free (our entire household did) his eczema went away. It could have been the diet or a topical sensitivity.

kareng Grand Master
kareng
Posted

Check your products. I had something from Aveeno with oat and wheat. Some Shampoos or conditioners are meant to stick to the hair and make it shiny, soft, etc. If they stick to your hair, they probably stick to fingers and could be hard to wash off.

T.H. Community Regular
T.H.
Posted

If it's on the skin, I think one question would be whether it can get into his mouth, too. Does he put his fingers into the bath and into his mouth? Or does shampoo rinsed off of him get into his mouth ever? lotion on fingers get into his mouth? Also, do you ever give him a little kiss with lipstick or chapstick on? That'll have gluten, too, usually.

However, a lot of folks with the rashes from celiac have said that skin contact made them react, big time, so I would say it's a definite possibility.

sa1937 Community Regular
sa1937
Posted

Will skin contact with things containing gluten cause reactions? I'm curious, because Matt has been dairy/soy free for 10 days now but is not getting better. Yesterday, about 10 hours after his bath he had worse diarrhea and he vomited. But there was a lot of white raised bumps all over his back and chest where the shampoo was. We use Aveeno, so that got me wondering.

When I was browsing in Wally World yesterday, I saw Aveeno products and oats is listed on the front label (at least on the products I glanced at).

seezee Explorer
seezee
Posted

Most little kids put their hands in their mouths all the time, so I just avoid hair and skin products with wheat, rye, barley or oats. Although, things that you rinse off like shampoo at the gym which we use after swimming, I don't worry about so much.

As a side note, a few months ago I went to the beauty store to look for gluten free hair care products and the sales clerk who was helping had a child allergic to soy and nuts which are also in a lot of hair products and then one of the other customers there at the same time had a daughter with some other food allergy (not wheat but maybe citrus?) so the three of us were wandering around trying to read the tiny print on the labels for various food products that they add. A lot of the wheat free things have soy. Go figure.

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JDB Newbie
JDB
Posted

we react to aveeno too

we use cetaphil now, or other organic lotions (without allergens)

Juliebove Rising Star
Juliebove
Posted

They sure can! I thought my daughter had head lice. She was scratching at her head so much and had black spots on her scalp which turned out to be specks of dried blood. Poor thing. Started with what I thought was dandruff but I now know was peeling scalp from the shampoo I was using. I then switched to a dandruff shampoo. I had been switching back and forth between a wheat containing shampoo to one containing soy. At the time she was allergic to both. Now I know we have to watch out for almonds too. Sweet Almond Oil is often in shampoo.

Chakra2 Contributor
Chakra2
Posted

Here's my 2 cents worth: My 2 yr old and I eliminated gluten, dairy, soy and corn 6 months ago. I thought things were pretty good for us but once I switched both of us to gluten and soy-free bath products I saw even more improvement. His face rashes appeared way less often, he slept better, and had even less diarrhea than before. My mood and energy improved too, along with my few lingering GI issues. Once I looked into it, I realized that almost every bath product I was using had either gluten or soy (shampoo, lotion, lip gloss, face cream, son's shampoo, son's lotion, deodorant -- I mean everything!!) It makes sense to me that those things could get ingested accidentally and cause symptoms. We use California Baby shampoo, conditioner and lotion now, even though I'm not crazy about the scent (they sell it at Target and Whole Foods where I live).

Also, I think I read that your son had been gluten free for 10 days. I have read on this site that it takes weeks or months to truly heal and that you might just get weird reactions to all kinds of things during that time period. Maybe you're already doing this but you might also want to try dropping other hard-to-tolerate foods at least during this initial stage (dairy, soy, corn).

Hope things improve!

dkelm Rookie
dkelm
Posted
  • Author

Here's my 2 cents worth: My 2 yr old and I eliminated gluten, dairy, soy and corn 6 months ago. I thought things were pretty good for us but once I switched both of us to gluten and soy-free bath products I saw even more improvement. His face rashes appeared way less often, he slept better, and had even less diarrhea than before. My mood and energy improved too, along with my few lingering GI issues. Once I looked into it, I realized that almost every bath product I was using had either gluten or soy (shampoo, lotion, lip gloss, face cream, son's shampoo, son's lotion, deodorant -- I mean everything!!) It makes sense to me that those things could get ingested accidentally and cause symptoms. We use California Baby shampoo, conditioner and lotion now, even though I'm not crazy about the scent (they sell it at Target and Whole Foods where I live).

Also, I think I read that your son had been gluten free for 10 days. I have read on this site that it takes weeks or months to truly heal and that you might just get weird reactions to all kinds of things during that time period. Maybe you're already doing this but you might also want to try dropping other hard-to-tolerate foods at least during this initial stage (dairy, soy, corn).

Hope things improve!

Thanks! I will keep that brand in mind. We have a Whole Foods about 30 min away and lots of other good similar stores close by. We are not gluten free yet. We have an endoscopy scheduled on the 9th. We were doing dairy and soy free and giving him EleCare because the doctor asked us to, but 2 weeks with those restrictions did not make any change in his stool and his vomiting actually got worse. Oy vey. I just want to know what is wrong and I am being really impatient. It's hard when you have a sick, clingy baby.

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