My kid broke out in a rash after face painting

I face painted my daughter with some Snazaroo paint that I've had for a while, half yellow and half purple face. She washed it off that night with water and then some Oil of Olay wipes. She came home from school with little hives on her face and complained of it burning. I had painted her two days prior with different face paints that she kept on all day with no problems. Now I wouldn't worry except a friend of mine said that her daughter had the same problem after I had painted her face but I didn't worry about it because she said that her child kept the paint on overnight into the next day before she finally wiped it off but same problem, rash and burning face. So my question is, Can face paint go bad? Can it get too old? Thanks for any help!

I would have thought it was the paint except I used two different colors but they could both be too old. I would have thought maybe it was the wipes but the other child didn't use the same wipes I did. I thought maybe my daughter's face was just being sensitive but she wore face paint two days prior all day. Maybe I should just paint my own face with them and see what happens! lol

I know several friends whose children have reacted to snazaroo. Not from me but from other painters. My husband started burning right away with it. However, he also reacted to the wolfe paint as well. Depending on the soap or wipe it could be that they are reacting to as well. My son has had no reaction.

snazaroo contains lanolin, which is the fatty oil from sheep's wool. are they allergic to wool by any chance?

Oh that's why I can't use snazaroo.

ohhhhh! Now I know why my kids eyes were watering yesterday (and mine too) when we use our only snaz color. We are allergic to wool but I never thought that was in the paint!

Now to get a new red Any suggestions?

The lanolin in Snazaroo is NOT from sheep. It is an man-made chemical therefore not a allergen for those allergic to wool and natural lanolin.

oh, then that's not what happened yesterday. Maybe it was just a weird day.

I'll try the red on him again tomorrow and see what happens

oops, sorry, didn't realize its synthetic. how dost thou know this, shannon?

quick internet search of synthetic lanolin says it can cause allergic reaction, one person posted they have it, so maybe still an issue?

What was the outcome of the red snazaroo? Curious as I have a few pots of snazaroo and wondered whether to chuck them or not. Hope he's ok

I am allergic to lanolin, and I CAN use Snaz. I cannot use Oil of Olay, because I break out from that product.

There are several possibilities.

Starting with the least likely.....

- Your child allergic to products that contain lanolin.
A rarer allergy, but still possible. Snazaroo contains an oil base called lanolin which in layman's terms is made from sheep wool grease. The likely culprit here would be the 'wool alcohol', but that is processed out of the lanolin when it's used to creams and cosmetics. There is still debate on what causes the allergic reaction to alcohol free lanolin, but if the child is also allergic to sunscreen, lip balm, leather, hairspray etc, then a Lanolin allergy is your likely culprit.

Shannon Fennell wrote:"The lanolin in Snazaroo is NOT from sheep. It is an man-made chemical therefore not a allergen for those allergic to wool and natural lanolin."

Yeah no. Not according to Snazaroo's own website anyway.
http://www.snazaroo.com/information/faqs.aspx

Snazaroo.com wrote:Are Snazaroo face paints suitable for Vegans or for Vegetarians?  
Some of our Snazaroo face paints contain lanolin, an animal-derived ingredient and as such, our products cannot be categorised as vegan/vegetarian. However, the glyceryl stearate in our face paints does not contain any animal ingredients and there are no other ingredients (other than lanolin) which are derived from animals in our face paints.

(Emphasis mine.)

I remember this because my vegan friend made me look it up when she was explaining to me why my paints weren't vegan lol. Yeah, my friend totally schooled me, and I never forgot it. :p

Also artificial lanolin can cause the same allergic reactions because they are chemically the same though not derived from the same source. But even those with a Lanolin allergy can even some times use Snaz because the content of lanolin in the product is pretty low over all, that only those with a severe allergy would react to it.

- You child has an allergy to fragrance.
More common allergy then lanolin. This would usually have to be an extreme allergy, such that she also requires special fragrance free laundry detergent. If this is the case with your child, then there's your problem; as face paints do contain a mild fragrance.

- You contaminated your paints. 
Coming in at 2nd most likely, this can happen by not cleaning your paints properly after a face painting session, or not cleaning your brushes or sponges. If a child had a viral infection it can and will spread through your paints. They do contain an anti-bacterial agent in them, but not an anti-viral one. Viruses can live on surfaces for many days; even weeks. Give them a nice moist sealed environment like a face paint cake and can be an all out party. Cross contamination can spread quite quickly if proper sanitation habits are not followed.

- The removal itself.
Ironically this is the most likely cause. Oil of Olay wipes have a high concentration of alcohol on them unless they specifically say "Alcohol Free" on the package. BUT, even then the package is misleading because most 'pre-moistened' wipe brands will have other irritants in them such as

- Propylene Glycol and Dipropylene Glycol
- Parabens (controversial ingredients)
- Phenoxyethanol (irritant)
- 2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1, 3-Dio (potent anti-microbial agent that carries the highest hazard rating, 8-10, on the Skin Deep Ingredients database)

I did an entire article on my blog about this subject
4 Reasons Wet Wipes Are Bad For Face Painting

If the other child also used wipes to remove the paint, it doesn't matter if it was the same brand, it's the most likely culprit.

Always remove face paint with soap and water, sensitive skin makeup remover, or some people even use oil based products like coconut oil, or olive oil. But IMO soap and water is the best.

Hope this helped.

If you read the back of snazaroo paint IT has a expiration date, usually is 18 months after first use or 3 years, some face paints recall the should not be use after 3 years.

if you can, test each item separately on the person, you could rule each one out by process of elimination.

in addition to snaz's lanolin, wolfe, tag, dfx, and other brands have acacia senegal gum, which is a natural product from tree sap.

and paradise is full of plant extracts (though i love my paradise brilliant pallete, and have had no reactions, yea!). animal and plant compounds are often allergens.

jlirie wrote:if you can, test each item separately on the person, you could rule each one out by process of elimination.

Yes some times it can be just one color. If you are going to test it, the recommended place is on the neck below the ear, as it's a sensitive enough area but not on the face. Least that's what they taught us in makeup school. Works pretty well.