I was not getting any answers with the regular medical care providers help with this complex issue. Nobody could really diagnose me. That led to me leaving and severing my ties with chemical colors. It definitely felt like the right thing to do, but it was scary, because that was my livelihood.
Michele Ortiz – Hair Professional
When I was working with a regular hair color, it definitely felt like I was having inhalation issues. Like a lot of warm sensations in the mouth and lung area, and then my face would flush really easily–like red, a lot of redness, a lot of excess heat in my body. I developed rosacea on my face. I had never had rosacea and I didn’t have any history of any of that before working in salons. Then my feet would get really hot in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. Then fatigue followed and a lot of confusion. It got so bad at one point my whole legs were starting to hurt. My muscles all over my body were starting to hurt after a while. This was about six years into the business.
I never really got a true diagnosis because I think doctors were trying to figure out what was going on with me. It was just so uncomfortable. They thought it was hot flashes, but I was only 24 at the time. They gave me medication for hot flashes, and that was the best that they could do to help stabilize the hot flashes; all that did was make me feel loopy. It was a tough one. I had to basically talk to nutritionists — I had a lot of friends working at health food stores and we came to the conclusion that it must be the fumes from the color treatments I was breathing and touching all day at work. The body sensations I was physically having were just so unusual.
So I decided to give my color clientele book – with my book full of color formulas – to a younger apprentice at the salon, and I told the owner that “I’m leaving the salon, and I never want to come back to working regular chemical colors. I’m tired of being exposed to it.” She tried putting me next to a window in the shop to see if that would make a difference. That didn’t really do the job and that was sad. I was not getting any answers with the regular medical care providers help with this complex issue. Nobody could really diagnose me. That led to me leaving and severing my ties with chemical colors. It definitely felt like the right thing to do, but it was scary, because that was my livelihood.
Español – LA HISTORIA DE MICHELE
