The Scary Truth About Fragrances

Have you ever tried to pronounce some of the ingredients that are listed on a beautiful, very well designed perfume bottle?

Fragrance doesn’t refer to a chemical, it’s actually a loophole that is used to classify 3999 ingredients. Take a look at the International Fragrance Association’s ironically named Transparency list. It’s not just perfumes. Did you know that 75% of the fragrance is used in either personal care or fine fragrances, and the remaining 25% is used in household goods?

Fragrance is used as a scent to add or mask the odour of ingredients. It’s an industry labelling loophole that enables manufacturers to lump dozens or even hundreds of ingredients under the word “fragrance”. Scandalously, even products that are labeled as unscented may have fragrance chemicals, as this term is allowed to be used if the fragrance is used to mask these unpleasant natural odours.

Many of the ingredients on the IFRS transparency list have been evaluated as having adverse effects on health. These include carcinogens, hormone disruptors, reproductive and developmental toxins and respiratory toxins. Some of these ingredients, such as styrenes and benzenes are banned in foods, however can still exist as fragrance in products. Really? Styrenes or Styrofoam, benzene, gasoline, industrial cleaning and degreasing products, glycols or windshield wiper fluid? You really want to know what’s on your skin and your nose, right?

It’s likely many of these fragrance products are just cesspools of chemicals. One study of 140 products, including personal care, cleaning, and household that have fragrance chemicals demonstrated that the products each have a multitude of chemicals with totals ranging from 46 to 229. All the ingredients in perfumes have been linked to allergies and irritation of skin, eyes or lungs, biochemical or cellular level changes, endocrine disruption, organ system toxicity and cancer.

In case you’re still hesitating, yes, fragrances are bad for you. If your health and feeling good as a woman are important to you, seek 100% all natural skin care and fem care only, and stay away from all topical products that contain fragrances.