A woman has shared a warning about the importance of patch tests after a home hair dye kit left her in A&E.

Lauren Woods said she dyed her hair a dark colour at home only to suffer a severe allergic reaction to the product. The Sussex woman said she did a patch test and waited 24 hours before dyeing her hair. A few days later, Lauren said she noticed that her forehead had become swollen and that her scalp was "burnt." She wrote:

"I phoned my mum in absolute hysterics (...) I then went to the hospital for them to tell me not to wash my hair. "Hours passed and the swelling had moved to my eyes, again went to the hospital with my boyfriend to be given steroids and allergy tablets."

Lauren said that she was told the swelling would go down, however, when she woke up the next day, she said she was not able to open her eyes. Sharing a photo of herself before and after her face began swelling, Lauren urged people to do patch tests and strand tests before using any kind of home hair dye kit. She said:

"Dyeing my hair is definitely not worth the amount of pain I’ve been in. "I don’t want anyone to have to go through what I’ve had to go through these last few days."

Lauren said she attended the A&E department on Sunday and was put on a drip. She also shared a photo of the hair dye kit she used - Nice N' Easy's no ammonia black 83. This comes after a woman suffered a severe allergic reaction to Paraphenylenediamine (PPD) - the substance found in many home hair dye kits and dark cosmetics. She shared a photo of the day she decided to go to the emergency room.

So, my friend had a pretty ridiculous allergic reaction to hair dye...

Images via Lauren Woods.