Customer hospitalized

Help! I'm totally freaking out. I had a customer have the worlds worst reaction to my roll on perfume (fractionated coconut oil and sweet cakes fragrance oil). She's been hospitalized because her reaction is painful and blistering.

She's not upset and won't sue, but I clearly need liability insurance! Help point me in that direction.
And, I used the fragrance oil exactly as specified. What went wrong? I read and read about my products-I'm not just cranking out random stuff. What did I do??? And please be kind-I'm very worked up.

what would help for starters is to post your complete recipe of this one product and some one will help you with what may have gone wrong.

Or ask some of the members for private feedback if you don't want to publish the recipe.

OMG you poor thing. That has got to be scary! That could so easily happen to any of us on here.

I got my insurance through the Soap Makers Guild and it cost about $400 for the year. I'm in Canada though so your rates could very well be less.

Word of caution for the future about FO's. They can contain up to 100 chemicals and I would ask for the complete ingredient listing before using anything that is lab created. If the company won't supply this information for you then find another one that will. There are too many variables with FO's and IMO they can be dangerous for certain individuals. Research, research, research.

:sad: I am so sorry to hear that!! Indie business network offers insurance as well. I believe its about $479.00 (U.S.A.) without the Indie membership. Maybe for future reference just add a note on your perfumes that they are not recommended for people with sensitive skin and certain allergies. Don't worry yourself.

you poor thing! what a scare! you need to contact sweetcakes and ask them if there has been problems in the past with that f/o. just tell them in a calm way what is going on. include your recipe, too. that poor lady...what an awful thing to happen!

I agree, your mix amounts would help. Is your fragrance skin safe? She may be allergic to coconut like my friend, or you didn't dilute enough, or there is something in the f/o that she reacted to, check the MSDS. I know I blistered up when my arm sat in a fragrance oil spill on my desk for a few minutes. Straight fragrance oil. Taught me a lesson, that's for sure.

Get the insurance. You dodged a bullet, that's for sure. Hang in there.

The recipe is JUST fractionated coconut oil and the gardenia fragrance oil or the ocean shoreline fragrance oil. (she bought both). I used the % recommended by Sweet cakes. They say it's skin safe! but I do think that in the perfume it probably "sits" on the skin and is more concentrated than the body butter, etc, products.

YES! dodged a bullet. She's been extraordinarily kind. I almost threw up when I saw her pictures - she sent pictures of her wrist all blistered out and said her face and neck are, too! I feel AWFUL.

I feel like she may actually be allergic to the coconut??? I mean, for SUCH a bad reaction?

omg. this is really my worst nightmare. What if it reacted to something else on her skin? And I'm selling these products for our adoption fundraiser!

may I suggest you forward the pics to sweetcakes so they take this seriously, too? i'm not doubting your story for one minute, but this is really unusual...has this ever happened to her before?

I used less than 1% of the fragrance oil in the fractionated coconut oil!

Sweet cakes' owner, Dough, called me himself personally about 20 minutes after I emailed them. HE was WONDERFUL. he said that in the 20 years he's owned the business he's NEVER had any one even REACT, let alone along the lines of a chemical burn! I did forward pictures to him.

I just feel awful. I don't really think it's my "fault", though?

assigning fault is a legal process that thankfully you won't have to be part of. you do have a moral obligation to not knowingly produce something that will harm others, as does your supplier. your customer has an obligation to know her own health factors and choose products accordingly. when something like this happens and the lawyers do get involved things can get complicated and ugly.

warning labels would be need also as someone had a reaction like test on arm before using?

To me this sounds more like an allergic reaction (contact reaction) to the coconut oil. Is she allergic to coconut or any tree nut (almond, shea, cocoa) which the coconut is? That is what I would be asking and what she should be tested for.

I agree with the coconut being the culprit but only testing will tell. I bet that's it, though, especially since you followed the recommended usage and your products are skin safe and your math is right. FYI, my friend will swell up like a balloon with a full on coconut exposure or if she eats it. She wasn't sure if skin contact would do it, but it does. With my soap, (coconut at 18-20% and a lye discount of 6%) she gets a nice rash if she uses it more than one day at a time.

I am sooo sorry that this happened. I do want to add my 2 cents as someone who has allergies. For example...One of my allergies is fish...not shellfish..fin fish. If someone touches a fish and let's say...touches a phone, and I pick up the phone(hours later) I am in trouble. Same thing for when I eat out...NEVER go to a seafood restaurant and my husband has given up seafood. If he were to eat fish and kiss me....I would end up in the ER.
I am just sharing this, because maybe it is not the fragrance oil. It could be ANYTHING. Maybe it is the combination of something else AND what she used from you. Where you doing anything with Shea before this? Peanut allergies come to mind. Or for that matter the client could have touched something before she used your product.
Here is the other thing....I have spent 28 years in medicine...The first question asked when someone has an adverse allergic reaction is, "what did you do differently?". The difference could be, "I spent some time in the sun"...OR, "I wore a new shirt/new detergent, etc..", especially if it is a superficial reaction, clinicians always look for contact. What I am saying from a medical-legal stand point is that there are A LOT of other factors. It sounds to me like you did nothing negligent, but it is a good reminder of why soapers need to have liability insurance.

100%Natural said:

OMG you poor thing. That has got to be scary! That could so easily happen to any of us on here.

I got my insurance through the Soap Makers Guild and it cost about $400 for the year. I'm in Canada though so your rates could very well be less.

Word of caution for the future about FO's. They can contain up to 100 chemicals and I would ask for the complete ingredient listing before using anything that is lab created. If the company won't supply this information for you then find another one that will. There are too many variables with FO's and IMO they can be dangerous for certain individuals. Research, research, research.

Click to expand...

People can have allergic reactions just as serious with EO's.
Over here, we have to list the 26 fragrance components that are most likely to cause allergic reactions.
In the USA, suppliers do not need to give any of these, for both EO's and FO's. For FO's, this ensures scents are not easily duplicated.
(Synthetic) fragrance components/known allergens can be added to EO's without having to communicate this to the buyer.
They are more often than not, as this makes sure the EO's scent is as similar as possible in every batch.

I'm sorry this happened to you and your customer, mrsmatt. My god, you really did dodge a bullet :shock:

I think this is a serious flaw in USA laws and legislations. I can not buy anything labeled according to the USA requirements. I have the same reaction (blisters) with a number of allergens, and terrible hyves all over my body or severe swelling from others.
Sadly, testing is probably not worth it as long as it isn't demanded.
The European cosmetic laws are a huge pain and make it nearly impossible to start a B&B business, but with things like this I realize it's worth the hassle :sad:

Some people are allergic to coconut oil. I can use it on my body, but if I wash my face with it I break out in itchy bumps that take a week to go away. My soap was being sold by someone else and a potential customer read the ingredients and said that the coconut oil in it would definitely send him to the hospital if he washed with it. I believe it is always important to list all ingredients. My little girl will have reactions with unrefined nut oils, and she is allergic to nuts, but not coconut.

The take-home message for me is that liability insurance is absolutely essential. You are extremely fortunate that she's not going to sue.

So sorry this happened to you. Good points that this could happen with an essential oil as well, and that the coconut oil could be the culprit.

I have my liability insurance through RLI - the policy is around $250 for $1 million in coverage.

I get mine through the soap guild, too. But I've heard RLI is a better deal.

Is she allergic to many things? Sweetcakes says the FO is great in soap and toiletries. I am sorry that happened.