Thursday, March 5, 2009

I know Victoria's Secret, and you should too.

I'm a fairly brand loyal person. When I find something that works, I tend to keep using it. In the past, I found that to be so with Victoria's Secret's Body by Victoria line. And, because I am who I am, I like things to match. So I buy, and wear, things in sets.

This should not be a surprise.

After years of wear, my trusty everyday BBV's had started to wear. They're a little stretched, and a little pilly, so when the semi-annual sale came around in December, I stocked up, and bought enough matching things that they shipped them free to Mrs. Maiden's winter home. (Not having to ship to Canada? Priceless!!)

After a few days of wear of the set, however; it became apparent that something was not right. I stopped wearing them.

At a recent pedicure, I showed my waist (the part of my torso I was willing to expose in the salon) to Wondermom, who pronounced what she saw to be "not hives, but chemical burns." They are red welts the size of a finger print. Everywhere the seams of the underwear and bra touched. Think straps, underwires, band, waistband....

They've been there for almost a month and are still visible. I'm breaking out in places I usually do not require undergarments - my thigh, the middle of my back, my elbow.

I called VS to complain on Sunday night, at which time Barry (real name used) informed me that despite the fact that he had worked for VS for over 6 years, and this was one of their main sellers, he had never, ever heard of my problem before.

Barry, I'm pretty sure you're lying. I looked it up.

Victoria's Secret is that her bras and underwear contain Formaldehyde. Formaldehyde, my dears.

Giant, red scaly welt causing formaldehyde. They know it, and they keep selling them to you.

Just so you know. Tell your friends.

5 comments:

Lara said...

#1 GAHHH!
#2 Did Barry do anything for you? If he didn't, I'd be sending an angry email and in said email, I would link to your blog post.

Anonymous said...

Yikes! That's really nasty!

I can still smell the formaldehyde from the various creatures I had to dissect in high school - I'm really sensitive to the smell. For weeks on end after said dissections I couldn't eat anything plain-tasting like rice or bread because all I would taste is formaldehyde - blech!

Hope the rash clears up quickly. Although from reading the bra-incident attorney's page, it sounds pretty serious :(

Some kind of Mom said...

SHOCKING! Demand a refund! Allergic or not, why are they still using formaldehyde in their fabrics!?!?!

Anonymous said...

This post so horrified me that I marched right out and spent good money I don't have on fancy underthings I don't need. Hmph!

Deviated Septum said...

Horrible. I just bought a sweater from them. Love it. Probably because it has no chemicals. Thanks for the tip.