How Ignoring My Intuition Led to a Full-Blown Fragrance Allergy Breakout

After watching Joy Ride (a movie I highly recommend after watching it for the first time tonight), I got up to use the restroom. On my way there, I passed by my full-length and extra wide light champagned framed mirror and noticed my ENTIRE FACE HAS BROKEN OUT.

I looked like Sloth, the Monster from the Goonies. My HIVES had hives! I'm thinking back to EVERYTHING that I have done to cause me to have these hives... and I come to one conclusion.

Not following my damn intuition.

What does my intuition have to do with breaking out in hives?

Well, the story starts where all good stories start: Target.

More specifically, a damn City Target.

Don't know what a City Target is? Neither did I until I moved to LA. This city is riddled with them. They are basically Target Light. These locations only carry food and everyday necessities. This isn't a Target location where you'll ball out on Magnolia Home decor. You're grabbing your Charmin Extra Soft and perhaps a Watermelon Celcius and heading back home.

In my case, I needed detergent. Usually, I buy my detergent from Amazon. However, I ran out, and I badly needed to wash my dog's reusable pee pads (my dog is 17.5 years old, and he is having more trouble holding his urine). I was tired of constantly throwing away peed pads because I felt that was wasteful and bad for the environment.

Recently, I purchased a water fountain for my dog that he LOVES! The sound of water makes him calmer, and he sleeps better. Shit, I sleep better because I love the sound... however, he also has been drinking more because of it, thus peeing more. So it goes without saying I have had to wash the pee pads more than I did in the past. So much so that I ran out of detergent, and I couldn't wait a day or two for Amazon because the smell of his urine was nauseating. I got my happy ass up and drove over to the City Target to purchase detergent.

Usually, I purchase Arm and Hammer pods. This is LITERALLY the only brand that doesn't break me out, but for whatever reason, this City Target didn't carry Arm and Hammer. The next best thing they had was 7th Generation.

I have used 7th Generation before, and I was open again to another experience with them. However, the detergent was behind a clear plastic case, protected from people intent on stealing it (honestly, I can't believe we live in a world where detergent is a class-A product that needs to be behind a clear plastic case to prevent theft). I only had two options: the Lavender scent or the nonscented fragrance-free. EVERYTHING in my RIGHT MIND told me to get the fragrance-free one like I did last time, but for some reason, I was bold and decided to buy lavender.

I LOVE lavender. I'm a lavender girlie. Even though I had the unscented in hand, ready to head off into the sun with no need to write this blog, I decided to go with lavender at the last minute.

I go home to wash all my bedding.

Big mistake.

Before the full hive-on-hive-on-hive breakout, I noticed my ears itching one more after I woke up. I didn't think anything of it. Then I thought perhaps I got some type of beg in my sheets, so I washed ALL my bedding. My next (near) fatal mistake.

I'm a person who loves to go full taquito when I'm in bed or on the couch in my blankets. I don't just have ONE blanket, I keep five on me. After I had thoroughly washed all the blankets, I still woke up to itching, and now my forehead had completely broken out.

Still fully convinced a bug was happily living in my blankets, I rewashed them. This time, I really took the time to soak them. In the meantime, I had washed half my work clothes and all my socks and underwear (well, I'm sure you see where this was going.

Long story short, after watching Joy Ride, I noticed my face felt stiff and hard, even like I had been bitten all over it, which is why I looked in the mirror. Only to see the freak I am.

Luckily, my BFF called me right as I saw the monstrosity staring back at me. Without even saying hello, I told her what happened (we have been friends for a long time (our friendship is old enough to drink), and she tells me to get some Benadryl. I hop in my car, head to CVS, find Benadrayll and mildly medicated face cream, and check out. I say to the store employee who checked me ,” Do not to look at my face! I'm a freak!’ while shielding my face with my furry green purse.

As soon as I walked through my apartment doors, I go right to the bathroom. I'm unsure if this is what you're supposed to do, but I cleansed my face with Hydrogen peroxide and then did a double cleanse of Dore. Lastly, clean the face one last time with hydrogen peroxide after the shower, then apply a the medicated topical cream to it.

Now we wait.

Meanwhile, it's 11:11 PM, and I'm rewashing the bedding. This time in Arm and Hammer sensitive skin detergent that I happen to have after a recent Amazon haul.

To answer your questions, no, I was lucky enough to never wear any of the underwear that I washed. So, I will be rewashing all of that this weekend.

This goes to show... and not to make this blog too deep, when you don't follow your intuition and just go for your gut feelings, you end up fucking yourself over. Make sure you are always following your gut because some things in life won't be as easy as cleaning up allergy hives. Sometimes, you may be stuck with these bad choices for life.

Luckily, I wasn’t.

Written initially on 06/27/2027 at 11:16 PM.