The Stink on Synthetic Fragrance

Let’s a have a real quick conversation about fragrance. But you have to promise not to get your knickers in a twist.

When I was in high school, you could be sure of a few things: my bangs were as close to a fountain as I could make them, my jeans were pegged just right at all times, and I smelled amazing! I wore “Calyx” by Prescriptives, thank you.

Calyx smelled floral meets fruity. Like a walk in grapefruit-infested field filled with musky, oaky, lilac, guava and passionfruit snow bunnies. You know, typical stuff. Haven’t YOU Spent time in a grapefruit-infested field with all of the aforementioned accoutrements? No? Well pull up a chari for a moment because I want to share why you may want to consider ditching your snow bunny fragrance hole for something different.

HOW BIG IS THE FRAGRANCE INDUSTRY?

The fragrance industry is HUGE. It is expected to cross $90 Billion Dollars in the next four years and the United States is the biggest consumer of fragranced products.

From perfumes to cosmetics, to cleaning products, to deodorants and candles, we sure do love our fragrance. I used to *relish* in the scent of clothes washed in Tide followed by a complete dousing of Downy Fabric Softener and Bounce Dryer Sheets. Smelled better than Grandma’s fried chicken dinner on a Sunday after church. And if you walked into my house, you were bound to smell the Glade Tropical Breeze plug-ins and could virtually teleport yourself from Indiana to Tahiti.

WHAT IS THE FRAGRANCE LOOPHOLE?

While we haven’t a major law passed in the beauty industry in this country since 1938, we do have a couple of things that have positive in the way of legislation. First, ingredients for makeup and personal care products have to have ingredients listed on them in order to be sold at retail. Second, all ingredients have to be listed by weight, so we know that the fist ingredient is used in the largest volume and we often see fragrance towards the end.

BUT

The loophole is that “fragrance” is composed of over 3,000 chemicals. Companies DO NOT have to publish any of the ingredients in the fragrance. When you see “parfum” or “fragrance” you could be experience, well, any combination of 3,000 things. (Please don’t ask me to do math, but that’s a lot of things!)

Many of these chemcials include parabens, phthalates, and musks, but here’s the kicker: companies NEVER have to disclose what’s actually in their fragrance “soup”.

This is why it can be so puzzling for allergists when people say “I’m allergic to fragrance.” Well, what exactly are they allergic to? It’s impossible to know. Phthalates are a binding agent that have been linked to asthma. Parabens and musks have been implicated in precocious puberty in girls and also a decrease in male sperm count.

If this isn’t enough to make you rethink fragrances, I commend this movie trailer to you and highly recommend it as an educational resource.

Are there fragrances that aren’t synthetic?

Yes! The best thing to do is to find a company that offers full transparency and lists all of their ingredients. This way there is no hemming and hawing about what’s in it. One of my favorite body products is this Body Oil in Citrus Rosemary! It smells divine and best yet, there’s nothing to hide!

If you’d like access The Never List from Beautycounter, you can find it here to see a list of common ingredients, like “fragrance” or “parfum” to avoid.