Why Start a Blog?

Latex allergy is brought on by exposure to latex, this means each time you encounter it the allergy gets worse. It starts of as touch-sensitivity, a rash, blisters.. but with repeated exposure can become full on anaphylaxis. I feel that it's important to educate people, especially parents about the risk of over exposure to natural rubber latex to prevent this.

I’ve known about my latex allergy since I was about 8, when I got bought a pair of converse shoes. 

Looking back it’s so irritating thinking of all the things I was exposed to growing up that were made of or contained latex, these include: bottle teats; dummies(which thankfully I didn’t take to); hot-water bottles; a rubber non-slip bath mat; welly-boots; elastic bands; marigolds; balloons; hairbands; disposable latex gloves; pencil erasers; shin pads; bubblegum; dog toys; bike handles; basketballs; mouse mats; condoms... and probably quite a few more that I can’t think of right now.

I’m now 23, and I’ve coped so far avoiding direct contact with latex, I was alright with it as long as it was encased until last year, when I had to stop using hairbands(recently I discovered kids silicone shaped bands can be used instead – I hope they don’t go out of fashion!)  and now I’m at the stage where I have to be careful what I wear, which is painful as I am a performer and I’ve spent years collecting interesting costumes which I wear on a regular basis. Elasticated skirts are okay for a few hours as long as I have my top tucked in, my shirred dresses and blouses are out of the question, but the thing that’s really bugging me now is that I'm allergic to my socks! ): 

I still do wear them though, I wear knee high ones, folding them over at the top and moving them up and down my leg every hour or so - when they start to itch, but I’m going to have to cut the tops off and re-elasticate them all at some point soon as a lot of them co-ordinate with my costumes!

I’ve recently started making my own corsets and plan to expand into costume lingerie and socks/stockings(all latex-free of course!) and I want to start a blog about my allergy, how I cope with it and my latex-free underwear and clothing projects. I’ve already started sourcing latex-free elastic and replacing elastic in some of my existing clothing. 


Please read the disclaimer in the 'about me' section to the right.