'I ended up in hospital after using box hair dye'

A man has resigned himself to "going grey gracefully" after he had an allergic reaction from hair dye which made his head "look like a balloon" on a trip to a family wedding.

Tony Varghese, 41, a sales director from Rainham, in east London, used the off-the-shelf dye to "hide a few grey hairs" a day before his cousin's wedding – but he did not do the recommended patch test first.

At the wedding in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, he started to experience itchiness on his scalp.

Three days after dyeing his hair, Mr Varghese said he woke up and "my head was like a balloon... it was something out of a horror film".

The dad-of-two had travelled to Hitchin for the two days of celebrations on 25 and 26 July.

He dyed his hair on 24 July and started taking antihistamines the next day after experiencing some swelling and itchiness.

By 26 July his ears and face were beginning to swell, although he said that "people didn't really notice".

He and his family had planned to return to the London Borough of Havering on July 27, but he was scared when he woke up and saw how much his face had swollen.

"My cousins were in the breakfast hall at the hotel and they saw me and said, 'You've got to call an ambulance now because you could go into anaphylactic shock', which was a bit scary.

"I was put on a drip, IV, antibiotics, steroids and antihistamines, and I ended up [in hospital] for four days."

Mr Varghese said he had never had an allergic reaction before, so when it came to dyeing his hair he had been "a bit blasé about it".

He added: "I never in a million years dreamt it would be this bad. I thought, worst case, I might have a bit of an itchy scalp.

"I am going to grey gracefully, I think, so I have a full head of hair and a few grey hairs here and there.

"That's enough dyeing for me."

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