A Briton who suffered a severe allergic reaction to Johnson’s baby shampoo described the agonizing experience of having acid poured on his skin.
Luke Tyrell, 34, from Clitheroe, 30 miles north of Manchester, experienced severe throat and neck pain for an hour after using a baby shampoo.
He said he had to take anti-inflammatory drugs for a while after the ordeal to manage the pain and side effects.
Tyrell, who works as a hairdresser, contacted Johnson’s, the infant products arm of the Johnson & Johnson brand, and said the company was investigating the matter.
Luke Tyrell, 34, from Clitheroe, England, suffered a severe allergic reaction after using Johnson’s baby shampoo. He said he notified the company and was unhappy with the swamp standard’s response.
“It was very painful, as if the acid burned my entire neck, and my throat began to swell,” Tyrell said.
“Luckily I had antihistamines on hand so I took a couple and sat down and meditated to stop the panic and it subsided.”
He took to social media to share the horrific event with his friends and family, only to find out that others had similar experiences.
Tyrell (pictured) said that after he shared his story on social media, others told their own stories of the shampoo disaster.
Searching the internet, Tyrell found other stories of people using Johnson’s baby shampoo only to get terrible reactions.
“I put a status on my Facebook page on Tuesday and was shocked at how many other people were affected by the reactions to their products,” he said.
“I’m not for compo (compensation) or anything like that, but just to warn other people about this, many people with my status think that this should be banned.
“I have looked online and the stories of the negative effects are endless. It’s scary and I don’t have sensitive skin.”
Other stories tell of a man who said his face became red and swollen when he used shampoo at the age of 14.
Another person described the shampoo as “terrible stuff” and said it made their scalp itch, while another said they would “never again” use it to remove makeup after a previous bad experience.
Tyrell emailed Johnson to let them know what had happened, although he did not plan any legal action or other remedial action.
The company responded by thanking him for the notice and notifying him that they were investigating the matter.
They said they couldn’t find time to talk to him on the phone and sent him information about allergies to their products.
Johnson told Tyrell that he was investigating the matter. Other products from the same parent company, such as Johnson and Johnson’s talc-based baby powder, were also scrutinized.
Tyrell expressed dissatisfaction with the company’s response, calling it a “swamp standard”, and said he didn’t expect them to go to great lengths to address the problem many had with shampoo.
“The health and safety of the people who use our products are our highest priority,” SWNS said in a statement.
“We take all complaints very seriously and have contacted Luke to investigate. We select only the highest quality ingredients, and all of our products go through a rigorous five-step safety assessment.”
There have been more serious reports of negative reactions from people after using Johnson & Johnson products.
The company is known to have had to pull talc-based baby powder from shelves in Canada and the US in recent years over allegations that it contains asbestos and causes cervical cancer in some women.
The company paid out billions to settle thousands of lawsuits, and the company even filed for bankruptcy as a result.