I am forty-three years old and have been coloring my hair since I was a teenager. However, in recent years, I had to deal with an allergic reaction to paraphenylenediamine (PPD), a chemical commonly found in hair dyes. The allergic reaction caused a slight rash on my scalp, ears, and the back of my neck. I tried to search for alternative hair dyes that didn’t contain this chemical but there were limited options and all of the alternatives didn’t deliver the true lasting color I desired.
After trying out different hair dyes, I decided to live with the rash from using hair dyes containing PPD and I jokingly commented that I’ll take the rash. I was determined that I would rather manage the rash and get the color that I wanted than to have odd-colored hair.
So I got a hair dye containing PPD and proceeded to use it. However, after using that hair dye, I developed a very severe allergy. The rash was so severe it completely covered my scalp, ears, and the back of my neck. In addition, my upper body down to my back was swollen. The rash and swelling was the worst that I had ever experienced and they lasted for over six weeks. I was convinced that I couldn’t ever use hair dyes containing PPD and began my search again for alternatives.
I’ve been watching Pastor Joseph Prince on television for a few years. Once, I heard him share the testimony of a woman in his church who was diagnosed with lumps in her breast after a mammogram. However, she believed that she was healed and even wrote on her medical report, “Does Jesus have lumps or cysts or any abnormalities in His breasts? No! As HE is, so am I in this world!” And a subsequent ultrasound scan the very same day revealed no evidence of any lumps in her breasts.
That was the first time I heard anyone say that. But I’d found it odd to think of Jesus having breasts and I didn’t receive anything from that testimony at that time. Sometime later, Pastor Prince shared a different testimony from another woman who was protected from abnormality that was detected in her mammogram. She’d remembered the testimony of the woman diagnosed with lumps in her breast and decided to claim the same verse—“As Jesus is, so am I in this world.”
As I listened to that testimony, the Lord said to me, “I don’t have a rash either.” All of a sudden, the truth washed over me and I realized that I had spoken unbelief over myself when I said that I would take the rash. As a result of my confession, that rash was so much worse than the ones I’d experienced before. Immediately, I repented and took authority over my words and condition. I began confessing, “As Jesus is, so am I in this world! Jesus doesn’t have a rash and neither do I. Jesus is not allergic to hair dyes and neither am I.”
Later, I went out to the store and purchased a box of hair dye containing PPD. I applied it while shouting my confession, “Jesus doesn’t have a rash and neither do I!” After I applied it, I felt my skin warming up like how it would before a rash breaks out and I said, “Oh no you don’t, body!” I rebuked the rash and any of those symptoms in Jesus’ name and my skin calmed down immediately and ceased reacting.
I have since colored my hair twice with no rash and no problems. Thank You, Jesus, and thank you, Pastor Prince, for sharing those testimonies! I’m so blessed knowing that God loves us so much that even our smallest concerns matter to Him! I also realized that we can be victorious if we believe and watch our words. So from now on, I’m only saying what my Father in heaven is saying!
Heather LeGrand | Indiana, United States
