Do paints contain gluten

Below is an email I just rec'd. I responded back with I would have to find out for sure. I use primarily Snazaroo, Wolfe, Krylon & Paradise. I have never been asked this question in the 8 years I have been painting.

My daughter was invited to a party that will feature your face painting. I saw on your website that your paints are safe for the skin. However, my daughter has celiac disease and can't have paint on her skin that contains gluten and many cosmetics and paints contain gluten. Could you please let me know if your paints are or are not gluten free?

Thank you in advance & I appreciate any information anyone can share.

You know, I could swear I've seen this discussion before somewhere... And if my memory serves (which is an iffy prospect) the conversation turned to whether or not gluten on the skin affects paients.

I'd say the best thing to do is to write to the makers, and you should get a quick response. That way you can respond with certainty from each brand.

I've painted a little celiac girl I know, and she's never had any problems with it.

Paints with gluten will not affect celiac disease, because celiac disease is in the intestines,and unless the child is ingesting the paints, there is no way it will reach her intestines.
I would just tell the mother not to worry, and don't paint anything near her mouth.

When this discussion went around last time, I looked up some stuff of celiac's. The most amazing to me was that even touching products with gluten (mostly a wheat product) could made extremely sensitive people with the disease sick. I would simply tell people that there isn't any known gluten in the paints, but they are not certified to be gluten free.

So it's a lot like Oatmeal....Technically there is no gluten in Oats, however if an oat field of many acres, has one wheat stalk growing in it, the oats will be contaminated and there will be gluten in the oatmeal. Tom's makes a certified gluten free oatmeal....it requires constant testing to make sure that the oatmeal tests clean.

Imagine then if you will someone eating a sandwich at the fp factory...and contaminating the batch of paints because they didn't wash their hands after.

For most this isn't any kind of a problem, but for a celiac with sever reaction, this would be extremely serious, even on the skin.

Jenny

good to know, thanks

I wrote directly to Snazaroo on this subject and received the response that there are no organic materials in the paint. I haven't requested specifics on any of the other paints yet. Snazaroo at least is gluten free.

This is the message I received from Gary Cole:

No gluten.
See the full list of ingredients and documentation at www.snazaroo.us/safety.htm

Gary Cole
SNAZAROO USA Inc. / Party Faces Inc.

I've read that some Face Painters suggest a sensitivity test at the beginning of the party if the parents are not sure about any reactions. You could paint just a tiny mark on the arm, and see if there was any reaction after an hour.

Of course, if there was no reaction to a tiny bit, this wouldn't guarantee that a full face paint with lots of paint wouldn't cause problems.

People - adults and children - who have sensitivities to one thing often have them to other things as well. There may be other undesirable things in the paint, for those people. The safest thing, unfortunately, is probably for them not to be face painted.

Kat

I keep a book of the Material Safety Data Sheets with my kit (found on mfg websites). I let parents know if they have any concerns at all to look at the ingredients and decide for themselves if they want their child painted.

When the Halloween hullaballoo went down, I went searching for MSDS. I don't know if it's changed, but at the time DFX didn't have theirs posted, but was quick to send me the file.

(Of course this is neither here nor there, as you do not use them )

I would personally go with what was said above about them not having gluten in the ingredients but they are not certified gluten free. It would be like the foods that don't have peanuts as an ingredient but they are not in a certified peanut free facility... if they know this child is particularly sensitive to it, that is their decision.

Personally, I have celiac disease, as does my son. We both get painted all the time. Neither one of us has noticed a reaction to Snaz, Paradise, or Wolfe. Someone else mentioned that it depends on how sensitive the person is, and that is also true. I couldn't say 100% that none of the paint has even a molecule of gluten in it, only that I haven't noticed a reaction myself to the paint.

Also, for those of you who are interested in knowing, using personal care products containing gluten most certainly can affect people with this disease, and that would include face paint or anything that would have contact with the skin. I know this from personal experience. I can't say for sure that it does damage to my intestines, but my whole body itches when I take a shower and use shampoo that is not gluten free. I only just learned about the need for gluten free personal care products a little over a month ago, and I have to say that for the first time in years my body is not constantly itching.

Thanks for bringing this discussion up. I always enjoy learning something new, and this is definitely new to me.

CATZ wrote:I keep a book of the Material Safety Data Sheets with my kit (found on mfg websites). I let parents know if they have any concerns at all to look at the ingredients and decide for themselves if they want their child painted.

Great idea I will put this option on my disclaimer that I hang