Occupational allergic rhinitis in the hair care industry: reactions to permanent wave solutions.

This report details our observations on rhinitic reactions in nonatopic professional beauticians in whom an etiologic agent for occupational symptoms was not previously determined. Exposure to permanent wave solutions in a laboratory setting caused clinical symptoms and significant laboratory evidence of nasal airway obstruction. In one patient, previous treatment with cromolyn sodium reduced, but did not completely eliminate, the reaction.