My daughter has some excema (previous mutliple food allergies as kid, needed adrenaline everywhere with her as kid etc.)

She needs to wear a long-sleeved leotard under anything crystalled as breaks out in a rash. (Even Swarovski).

A year or so ago we found us in a position where we had to rush out and get a competition dress a week before a comp because her allergy to a dress with glitter glue worsened to the extent that she had giant hives all over her body despite the leotard underneath. We put it down to the glitter glue because it was the only different thing about that dress.

A friend is selling a beautiful dress which would be perfect for daughters next program. Has a lot of glitter glue - but - wondering if we dare try it again and if all glitter glue might not be the problem etc. (i.e. maybe allergy to that previous dress was due to a specific brand etc.)

Clearly I'll need to let her wear it (and might do so with nothing underneath the dress) but wondering about minimum lenght of time before I declare its safe.

Am I being silly to consider it? (Good price, crystalled already etc.)

I wondering how she can be allergic to the crystal (different from glitter glue) because they are on the opposite side of the fabric from her skin and are, I'm fairly sure they are rather inert. Could it be the glue the crystals are put on with that soaks through the fabric that she is allergic to? Also, where are the dresses made? It is quite possible it is something in the fabric. Lots of competition dresses are made in China and you really have no idea what is in the actual fabric. I would find out where the dress came from and what the fabric is. If you really want the dress, she should wear it for a hour or so at least 3 times before you declare it safe.

If this dress doesn't work, I would suggest you actually test the plan crystals that have never had glue on them against your dd's skin and then test the glue that holds the crystals on and then test the glitter glue and determine which one it is. I also suggest you look a the fabric she wears for practice dresses (assuming there is no problem there) and have a dress made out of the same type of fabric. If it ends up that the glues are the issue, you can buy crystals that are sewn on.

I just thought of something else. A couple of skater I know us Fabreeze on their dresses when they get a bit smelly. I know the Fabreeze is one of the things that set my excema off really badly. If you are looking at a second hand dress, make sure it they have not used anything like that on it.

I think it is probably the glue on the crystals. She does seem to react much less when I use glue-on rather than hotfix - recently I forgot the leotard and she managed to wear a dress where I had glued on the crystals - I think with gemtac - although fabric was something a bit thicker than most others she wears.

Anything like fabreeze really irritates her skin - we generally handwash the skating dresses in something scent free! (Even those conditioning cloths for the tumble-drier are a problem and there are only a couple of brands of soap she copes with).

Fortunately she seems to cope with the make up we use although it gets washed off the moment she has finished skating!

I am planning for her to wear the dress maybe for an hour just to see how badly she reacts!

Have you tried sewing a lining into the dress? I used to line my girls' dresses with (expensive) polartec fleece, as they both got rashes from the metallics in the fabrics. I think nickel was the main offender, but anything scratchy would make them miserable.

What does her allergist suggest? Have they done a skin test?

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blades, gary, Lucy, Emily, take care of Aiden and Sami. Sami is my sweetest heart, and always will be, forever. RIP Cubby Boy, my hero dog.

I remember the original post about this dress from a year ago and I thought that the dress WAS from China??? Either way, I would not take a chance with your child's health AGAIN. Especially since your child has HAD SEVERE allergic reactions before. I myself went into anaphylactic (sp?) shock and it is NOT fun!! It can be fatal and if not for the VERY QUICK responses of my doctors I would have DIED! I was in my allergists office after getting shots and within 10min my respiratory system was shutting down.

If this was my child I would buy a dress with a fabric and from a company that I KNEW was safe for my child. And if it meant that there was NO jewels or sequins on it so be it!!! The childs health is way more important. But...it's your choice.

I think you need to look into sew-on crystals and pallet (pellet?) decoration, perhaps lurex embroidery, etc and stay away from what you know she's allergic to. It's not crazy to suspect that she would get allergic to glue or something, a skating dress gets wet from sweat, everything can go right through, lycra isn't very thick. Buy undecorated dresses then decorate them yourself, have nanna do it, stuff like that. You can buy various decorating materials and do an exposure test on the inside of the arm or something to determine what you can and can't use, much like is done with hair dye.

BTW - a lot of glitter glues say "may cause irritation on prologued contact" on the tube. That should tell you something.

No No don't even bother. If you want to test if its the glue get a glove and glitter glue it and see if she has a reaction at least it will be localized. But alergies are miserable and can turn deadly at any time, its repeated exposure that can turn the allergy deadly, it's not worth it.

Yes, falen is correct. I went into shock after repeated exposure to what Iwas allergic to (was getting shots and the day I went into shock i had received the maximum dose after weeks and weeks of exposure).

It could have been the fabric. I had this wonderful fabric with a color that everyone wanted last season. I made two dresses with it, one girl came back and said it itched. I dropped in a lining as best I could and didn't hear from her again. Then I made myself a swimsuit in the spring, along with another one for a friend and decided to use some of the leftover pieces of this great fabric as trim and straps. The stuff ITCHED like crazy, even when wet, no matter what how I washed it, there was something in either the weave or the thread that was rough on the skin. I'd never had anything like that before. The fabric definitely came from overseas, and I will be careful about having something like it again.