Although the MI Free Facebook page has remained active during 2025, regular readers will have to forgive absence of activity on the MI Free blog.
This has been partly due to taking an extended break from work, and more lately due to ongoing work on various book projects, news of which I’m happy to bring you here!
1/ My new book, Living with Propylene Glycol Allergy, is now out and available on Kindle and Amazon, with others to follow in the coming weeks and months. PG is a hugely versatile ingredient, commonly used as an emollient or humectant, found in all the kinds of products where you might find MI — such as cosmetics and skincare, household detergents, paints — but also found in a lot of our processed foods and drinks, and in e-liquids too. Sensitivities to it can be irritant or allergic and avoiding it is no mean feat, especially when patients have to avoid other glycols too. If this is an allergen which affects you, I hope you will try the book and find useful information and support from it.
2/ A very long overdue update of Living with Methylisothiazolinone Allergy is, I’m happy to report, now in progress, and I hope to be able to release it very early in the new year. Work is very much ongoing, and I’d be delighted to hear from readers of the book with regards to what they’d like to see in the new edition that the first edition omitted. You can get me through the usual channels (info at [domain name]), or leave a comment here.
3/ The next allergy book in line is I think going to be one dedicated (either exclusively or primarily) to Balsam of Peru allergy. I hope to get it out by early 2026, but this is very much dependent on what I uncover during the course of my reading and research. It looks like a curious subject, and I look forward to getting my teeth stuck in. Again, if any of you react to BoP and would like to comment on the kind of content and information you’d like to see, I’m all ears.
I also plan to spend some time updating the MI Free site in the coming months and, once again, if there are subjects you’d like me to address, please do leave a comment, and I’ll add them to the to-do list!
I would be interested reading the book about Methylisothiazolinone allergy since I have this allergy too.Thank you
Ah, thank you, good to hear! I hope to have the new updated version out in January, so do wait until then so you have the current edition.
Hi I would like to make some comments that may or may not be useful for updated edition from Australia.
It is increasingly hard to buy fragrance free bar soap such as Simple Soap as supermarkets and pharmacies have greatly reduced shelf facings and increased their ranges of liquid soaps.
Shampoos and conditioners are also hard to find. The one that are MI and fragrance free seem to strip hair of everything, making it weak and brittle. What are some natural alternatives?
I use few products as I find less is best. Also good to up your water intake to flush the body.
FYI I had surgery on my eyelids due to damage from MI shampoo and conditioner – have photos and can provide case study of helpful!
Thanks so much for feedback, Joy. I’m so sorry you suffered with your eyelids so badly. Safe brands / products are tricky because the cosmetics market is so changeable – brands come, brands go, formulations change – so this is probably more useful for the blog, where I try to keep all the pages (found on the drop-down menus) updated with safe products. Have you tried shampoo bars? This one from an Aussie brand may be suitable for you: https://nuebar.com/collections/shampoo/products/shampoo-fragrance-free
Thank you forcyourvwork on MI, its proven to be very helpful. I’m extremely interested in your book on BoP.
I would like to know as much as possible, in particular the myriad of things that it is in. I have eaten cinnamon and hotvspices my whole life. However covid dealt a blow to my immunity and suddenly can’t touch paprika, chili powder, tomatoes (inless thier plum) etc.
Most useful would be what products have BoP. Also I believe other tree bark resins similar to BoP have the sameceffect on me. Any insight would be mist helpful.
Thanks for your support, Chuck. BoP sounds like a fascinating subject – albeit tough to live with – and I’ll certainly look into the covid connection, if any research has been done.
My patch test results clarified my allergy to BoP. BoP is in food & drink flavoring, perfumes, and countless more. AKA China oil, Honduras baldalm, Indian balsalm or myroxylon.
Avoid strong vanilla or cinnamon flavors. Avoid cloves, paprika, chili powder, curry, bitters. Some acne medicine.
There are countless othrr additional chemical sounding names, ie., cinnigal alchol, cinnimal
I can no longer eat tomatoes unless they are plum variety.
BoP is one of the top 5 allergens most common on patch tests. I’m allergic to many chemicals and this is the most difficult to avoid due to the myriad of names and types.. until the rashes start appearing .
Looking forward to living with Meth…
Thanks Bonnie!