What’s really inside your perfume?
Clean eating & natural skincare are a priority for many of us, but one area often overlooked is fragrance. Whether it’s your signature perfume or the scent of your home, synthetic fragrances may also be hiding in many of your ‘natural’ products like lotion, deodorants & cleaning items too.
Aromatherapy vs. Synthetic Fragrance
The rise of the aromatherapy industry has been met with a surge in fragrance-based products like candles and “aroma” oils. Unfortunately, it’s easy to get confused when aromatherapy mists are displayed right next to synthetic fragrance sprays.
Here’s the key difference:
True aromatherapy uses 100% pure essential oils distilled from plants.
Synthetic fragrances, on the other hand, are often blends of hundreds or even thousands of chemicals, created to replicate scents that often cannot be naturally extracted (like peaches & cream).
Why Does Synthetic Fragrance Matter?
Over 90% of the chemicals used in synthetic fragrances are derived from petrochemicals. These compounds can be known allergens or asthma triggers, hormone disruptors & even carcinogenic.
Many conventional perfumes contain phthalates, chemicals also used as plasticizers to make plastic flexible. In perfumes, phthalates act as a binding agent, helping the scent stick to your skin longer. Research has linked phthalates to a range of health issues including endocrine disorders, such as irregular periods, PCOS, acne, reduced sperm count and fertility problems.
Manufacturers aren’t required to disclose the full list of ingredients in their fragrances by law as to protect trade secrets, however this loophole now shields companies from revealing the long list of harmful chemicals hiding under the term “fragrance”.
It’s not all doom & gloom!
There are many natural alternatives on the market (like ours!), just be sure to spend the time reading the label and check for ingredients such as essential oils, plant extracts or even words such as ‘limonene’ or ‘geraniol’ which are actually natural chemicals found in essential oils which may be required to write on the label in case of allergy to these oils.
If the company does not disclose any information or supply an ingredients list, it probably does smell too good to be true!