How scary! Even did a patch test. It is amazing some of the things that pass to be sold!

Terrible thing to have happened. We should always test products on a small spot before applying it to the whole face or body to make sure there are no reactions.

I’m sorry this has happened to your son. You did the right thing in doing a spot test on his skin but maybe the face is more sensitive. You may have to buy him a mask instead. Glad the redness has gone down and no permanent damage was done

And kids can develop allergies to products they’ve previously been fine with.

Glad to hear this boy is ok. I’m not a fan of face paint at all. This mother did the right thing in trying on her skin first, something I probably wouldn’t have done, and it didn’t affect her. Everyone’s skin is different – child and adult — so this may be an isolated incident. However, she has done the right thing, as has Woolworths. No need for outrage, just a sharing of information to create awareness.

I’m glad he’s ok firstly. But this is a big warning that parents need to read the ingredients listed in products that are put on the skin or ingested. Just because it is sold here doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have harsh chemicals in it. Be aware, pick up a copy of the chemical maze and look through what all those weird and scary numbers are. If in doubt, don’t.

Oh goodness, thank you for the warning.

I’m not a massive fan of face paint either. I’m also not a fan of Woolworths at the moment. They promise a lot but deliver very little. I had groceries turn up at almost 1 o’clock in the morning, which was over 3 hours outside the specified time. Nobody ever calls you when they say they will when and the people that do tell you fibs like you can have a refund and the next person tells you you’re not entitled to one. Regarding the quality of their produce, in the store that is closest to my house I have on numerous occasions found things like mouldy strawberries and limp chinese broccoli on an end cap that is designed for specials. When I showed them they showed no concern at all and brushed it off. I have had a capsicum that had a rotten core and had to return it. I don’t think I will be giving Woollies anymore chances. I’m not surprised that this has happened to this poor boy. Woolworths almost always try to deflect and use standardised replies about the level of quality control they have etc.

Hate face paint, it stains skin and causes irritation on my kids. I never use it and this is a good reason to avoid.

I can never get facepaint to come off so I try to avoid it as much as I can.

Do they not thoroughly test this stuff before it goes on shelves?? You hear about them having extensive testing on makeup so this should be no different!

poor kid, hope he recovers fast but it does seem more of an allergy, odd that it didn’t do the same on his wrist

I never liked face paint. Unless I have absolute security that the product is 100% safe, I wouldn’t it on my child’s skin. 🙁

Sounds like a PPD allergic reaction (I have this allergy). Is para-phenylenediamine on the list of ingredients? See https://www.dermnetnz.org/topics/allergy-to-paraphenylenediamine/

To be honest I wouldn’t put anything cheap and nasty on my child’s skin.

If there aren’t multiple complaints of this issue, I would say this child is more likely to be sensitive to the ingredients in the paint.

I guess it’s a warning to check all products with a skin test before applying.

Thanks for the article,it is a concern as Halloween is almost here.

This is what facepaint and make up can do. When you look to the ingredients you can see that these aren’t very natural.