Susie Marquez You may have noticed that many skincare and even cosmetic products have a lot of fragrance. These are added to make the product more appealing to the customer. And fragrance and scents can trigger memories and help you enjoy the product. But many manufacturers are using fragrances to cover up chemical smells of the product to make it more attractive to the customer. And many of the fragrances used are artificial and the ingredients that go towards creating them can be quite harmful to our body.
You can see some products that use natural fragrance found here and these will be safe to use on your skin. But when it comes to artificial fragrances, you can’t always know what is in them. Most of the time, while ingredients are stringently examined when it comes to skincare products, fragrance doesn’t get the same scrutiny. As fragrances are considered trade secrete formulas for companies, they don’t need to disclose the ingredients that actually make up their fragrance and this can leave a blind spot to a consumer who otherwise checks all the ingredients in the product. Artificial fragrances are made of a combination of different chemicals and these may contain harsh ingredients such as toluene, aldehydes and phthalates. These are actually ingredients that you should avoid when it comes to skincare.
It is cheaper to use artificially created fragrances compared to naturally produced scents. And it can be impossible to find everyday skincare products that don’t have fragrance. If you check your shampoo, conditioner, body wash, moisturizer etc. these will all have fragrance unless you specifically purchase fragrance-free products. But having fragrance in a product doesn’t make it a luxury product. You are getting an ingredient that can irritate your skin and harmful to your body. They can also contribute to headaches, asthma, nausea, wheezing and contact dermatitis. These can exacerbate psoriasis and eczema. These effects are not just harmful to the person wearing the product, it can harm the people nearby as well.
Studies have shown that artificial fragrances are linked to birth defects, cancer, decrease in sperm count, headaches, allergies, asthma etc. The majority of artificial fragrances are derived from petroleum. So if you want to stay away from products that contain artificial fragrance, read the ingredient list carefully to see if it says either parfum or fragrance. This can help you avoid irritants. If you still enjoy a bit of fragrance with skincare products, you can look into products that have been scented with essential oils. Otherwise, fragrance-free options will be your best option.
You can look for organic essential oils that have been derived from seeds, bark, roots, flowers, resin etc. These have been used for a long time to add scent to day to day items and it will not give you a headache when using the product. Whereas artificial fragrances have long term health effects on people. So minimizing your contact is always a good idea. You can look into clean beauty and skincare if this is something you want to maintain in your routine.
