Smelling good at the expense of our skin health
That fresh out of the shower smell is something that we all seem to desire and for many, it is a sign that we've accomplished our bath-time routine successfully. But what exactly creates those fresh smelling sensations and how are they linked to poor skin health? In this post, I'm looking into fragrance ingredients in skincare products.
Fragrance, parfum/perfume, essential oil, plant extract, the list is endless. All of these and many more ingredients are added to skincare products to help mask the “chemical” smell of the main active ingredients in a product. As consumers, our noses have become accustomed to detecting these fragrance ingredients and so a whole industry has been developed to tailor different scents to make a product more appealing to use. But are these fragrances essential to the desired effect of the product use or are they just “filler ingredients” that have the potential to cause harm?
Natural vs Synthetic Fragrances
Fragrance ingredients in skincare products generally fall into two categories. Natural fragrances are those that are sourced from raw ingredients found in nature and converted into a fragrance by a process to extract the fragrance molecules. An example of these are essential oils, which are either distilled from raw plant material or as is becoming more popular, are broken apart by other substances such as carbon dioxide CO2 under high pressures which act as a solvent, effectively dissolving out the desired fragrance. CO2 extracts are often considered more environmentally friendly, as the process typically avoids harsh solvents and lower temperatures can better preserve delicate fragrances. It's generally more energy-efficient than traditional distillation, reducing reliance on fossil fuels in comparison.
Synthetic fragrances use a combination of fragrance molecules, blended together to mimic a natural fragrance. Sometimes, fragrances are created that don't mimic natural scents, aiming to create a totally new sensory experience for the consumer. Many perfume manufacturers use these synthetic fragrances to create a unique fragrance combination that a user will remember and like. It's important to point out, that most, if not all, synthetic fragrances use components of natural fragrances to make up the final blend.
So which are better, natural or synthetic fragrances?
Well, it depends on the individual components and also on the skin to which they will be applied. Natural is not always better. The European Cosmetics Regulations require a list of 26 specific fragrance allergens to be declared on ingredient lists if their concentration exceeds a certain threshold. These allergens, found in both natural and synthetic fragrances, are known to cause skin reactions in sensitized individuals. The 26 fragrances are either banned or restricted in their usage, often to a maximum allowable limit. The list contains both natural and synthetic fragrances, and it may surprise you what is actually on the list.
I will use the example of “Natural” Lavender essential oil. Sounds pretty harmless right? WRONG ! Whilst Lavender can be used in a wide variety of skincare products and is particularly favoured by skin care formulators for its “soothing” or “calming” effects, in high concentrations it is a known irritant. Lavender essential oil is a complex mix of various fragrance molecules including Linalool in a concentration of about 35% of the pure oil. Linalool is a registered skin sensitising ingredient, and while there's no fixed maximum usage rate in law for Linalool itself, its presence above very low thresholds (0.001% in leave-on and 0.01% in rinse-off products) must be declared on the label due to its allergenic potential.
So, to break it down in an easier way. A face moisturiser with 1% of Lavender essential oil will have 0.35% Linalool in the final product. That's a whopping 350 times more than the declarable amount of 0.001%.
To complicate matters even more, many products contain more than one essential oil. If the product also has Ylang Ylang, Rosemary, Marjoram, Bergamot or Basil, then all of these oils also contain Linalool. So the total percentage of Linalool will increase.
Synthetic fragrances can also contain fragrance components on the EU list of 26 restricted use chemicals. Mostly controlled by IFRA guidelines (The International Fragrance Association) these substances have recommended usage amounts that product manufacturers should adhere to; so that percentages of certain chemical compounds are not exceeded. This is entirely self regulated and pretty much non-transparent to the consumer. In fact, most personal care products simply use terms like parfum, perfume or fragrance to hide what they are actually using to make a product smell nicer. As a consumer it is down to us to look at the “allergen” declaration included in the product ingredient listing.
So as an example, a product might use synthetic lavender fragrance oil. So the label might state “fragrance” or “lavender fragrance”, and then have Linalool listed as an allergen ingredient.
There are two main reasons why manufacturers choose synthetic over natural fragrances. Firstly synthetic fragrances are often cheaper than natural essential oils. Secondly, the allergen content is often “played with” to reduce the allergen percentages. Synthetic fragrances are also consistently the same, batch after batch. Natural essential oils on the other hands will always have variations in their chemical components and therefore the scent in them can vary between batches.
I already mentioned that natural lavender oil has linalool in about 35% concentration, whereas linalool content in synthetic lavender oil can be as low as 7%. So you can see why this would appeal to a big manufacturer, lower cost, same fragrance profile but with less allergen material. The downside is that there are also other ingredients in the synthetic mix that are also allergens. Benzyl salicylate being one of them. EWG Skin Deep database lists this allergen as a skin risk of 4 on its website. Citing allergenic potential depending on usage amount.
Summary
Whether natural or synthetic, fragrance ingredients, essential oils and the like, can have the possibility to create irritation on our skin. It really depends on the type of allergen contained in the ingredient, the percentage of that allergen and also on your individual skin. I can't really say with any certainty that natural essential oils are any safer than some synthetic fragrances. My rule of thumb is pretty simple on this matter.
Does the ingredient need to be in the product for it to work well? If it's highly perfumed or fragranced and it doesn't need to be, then I don't buy or recommend it.
I much prefer spending money on well thought-out “green” skincare products that don't overdo the use of a fragrance ingredient. The main effect of any product comes from the active ingredients and not the smell.
So next time you are looking for a new skincare product, find out if it smells highly perfumed before buying it. Or even better, look at the ingredient listings for potential allergens.