What Everybody Ought to Know About Fragrances

So, what is a fragrance, really?

According to Wikipedia, “Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils and aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body, objects, and living spaces a pleasant smell.”

That’s an excellent place to start. And it should be enough to ask “Why would I want this on or in my body?” Aroma compounds? Fixatives? Solvents? Sounds more like a chemistry class.

Why all those extra chemicals? Because the makers of fragrances (be it perfume, cologne, aftershave, “air fresheners”, etc) want their product to be noticed. Many of the chemicals used are in a class called Volatile Organic Compounds or VOCs for short. Their purpose is to disperse the fragrance in the air.

But what exactly are these VOCs? Unfortunately, the public doesn’t really know which VOCs are in fragrances. If you do some searching, you’ll find the list includes: toluene, ethanol, acetone, formaldehyde, limonene, benzene derivatives, methylene chloride, and many others. An interesting starter listed.

Wait a minute! Aren’t some of those items known to cause cancer and damage nervous systems? The answer is “Yes.” So how do they wind up in fragrances?

First, fragrance industry regulations do not require that they list all the ingredients. They are “trade secrets.”

Second, the fragrance industry claims that the only health issues are contact dermatitis in sensitive individuals. They claim that the fragrances only contact is the skin and that they are not absorbed in any form.

Except, is that really true? If you smell something, doesn’t some of that substance wind up in your lungs? Of course. Furthermore, they can be absorbed through the skin and get into the blood stream. It used to be thought that the skin was an impenetrable barrier. But this just isn’t true, absorption does occur through skin and it isn’t localized. That’s the principle behind the birth control patches, the nicotine patches and the pain patches.

Keep this in mind the next time you spray cologne or “air freshener.”

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Fragrance Free Household Products

The main problem with cleaning products is that there really are no rules requiring manufacturers to list the fragrances. There are laws requiring them to mention certain ‘known to be’ toxic chemicals, but that’s all.

Sometimes you can get clues from the label. “Fragrance Free” and “Unscented” may mean that there is no fragrance added, and it may not. It could be that there is no detectable fragrance odor, but they may have added a “masking fragrance”. Which, for me, is worse than a fragrance because I can’t smell the harmful part.

Other clues of things to avoid - Anything that says something like “Fresh Clean Scent” has a fragrance in it. It may not be listed, but those words are a definite sign that there’s a fragrance on board.

Products that say things like “Free of Perfumes”, “No added fragrance”, and such are your best bet. That usually means staying away from most of the “commercial” brands. They’re main concern never seems to be health or our environment, but only the almighty dollar!

One of the real quandries I’ve found is in scented automatic dishwasher detergent. A few years back, my husband and I were buying dishwasher detergent. And he asked me, “What fragrance do you want for your dishes?” My answer is NONE. At that point, I hadn’t found anything without a fragrance. So, I had some things that were not allowed in the dishwasher. Such as the lid to my travel coffee mug. I use it everyday, and since the plastic lid absorbed the fragrance, I couldn’t use it if it had been in the dishwasher. I also could only run the dishwasher when I was away from the kitchen or out of the house because the fragrance found its way throughout the room.

And that’s why one of my favorite companies is Natural Choices. I use their Oxy-Dish Automatic Dishwasher Detergent; I buy it in the 18 pound bucket. One bucket usually lasts us a year, so it’s not as expensive as it may seem. I also buy their floor cleaner - Clean & Free Floor Cleaner Concentrate.

A sometimes source for fragrance free products is your local health food store - Whole Foods, Sun Harvest, etc. But, if you’re as sensitive as I am, be careful. Some of the products have things like “Orange Oil” in them. While it is natural, it is often highly concentrated.

Someone just sent me a tip about Shaklee products. I haven’t tried them yet, but am adding them to my list.

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