DIRTY SOAP

THE LAUNDRESS was the nice detergent on the market. Until people started breaking out into hideous rashes.

- EMILIA PETRARCA

ONE DAY LAST SUMMER, Shelbey Wilson, a digital creator based in Nashville, replenished her stock of cleaning products from the Laundress. A loyal customer of the brand for about five years, she was partial to its No. 10 detergent and matching fabric conditioner. They were advertised as plant based and dermatologist tested, and she particularly loved the way they smelled: an olfactory "chorus" of "dark, almost sinister spice." Wilson, who is 29, ordered several bottles. She also tried out three of the brand's newer scents: Isle, which was more "dewy" with notes of fresh basil, mint, and lime; Artisan, which the company said was designed to "enhance rituals of self and home care" and “ignite the imagination and bring out your own inner artisan"; and Way Out West, John Mayer's musky collaboration with the brand, which started at $22 a bottle.

Soon after using her latest order, Wilson began suffering from a strange set of symptoms. Mysterious rashes appeared all over her body, and her forearms, neck, chin, and eyelids were red and covered in bumpy splotches. The folds of her nose burned. Everything itched. "I was miserable," she says.

"I was literally a tomato." When her dermatologist suggested that her fancy detergents might be the cause of her problems, she brushed it off. "I was like, 'Oh, that's not it," she says. "I've been using this stuff for years." Why would she suddenly have a problem now? Wilson was prescribed a topical cream, but it didn't help.

"I was kind of at a loss. I thought I was going to have miserable skin forever." Her career also suffered. "I work in social media, oftentimes with beauty brands, and I didn't work with any skin-care companies because I didn't want to use anything that might trigger my skin or make it any worse," she explains.