Perfume and Colognes: Dangerously Chemical
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The words on ingredient labels can be misleading. The word fragrance, a misleading term, is too often overlooked, as it might really indicate a combination of 100 or more different chemicals. Many of them may be toxic or harmful like phthalates, petroleum based ingredients, or flowers sprayed with chemicals or fertilizer. Organic perfumes are fragrance-free and reduce the risks associated with cosmetic toxicity. Perfume requires only three fundamental ingredients: 1. Essential oils 2.Distilled water 3. Grain alcohol. Natural perfumes composed of essential oils from plants and flowers can energize, unlike harmful ingredients, and are therapeutically potent.
In 1966, the Hartford Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM) was formed to test perfume product safety, but only 1,300 of 5,000 materials used under the fragrance heading were tested. Furthermore, RIFM only tested skin effects rather than potential neurological, circulatory or respiratory adversities. No wonder my eyes itch and water up when I spray most perfumes! I’d come to detest and mistrust them for that reason before even conducting this research.
EPA research in 1991 confirmed the presence of Hartford Vermont science lab in 1998 showed that chemical emissions from various fragrances irritate heart and sensory glands, and contribute to premature memory loss, brain dysfunction.
Although I cannot link a day’s attention deficit to a single spray of perfume, I suspect that it benefits me and those around me very little. In fact, most people who are sensitive and can end up with eczema, asthma, nasal rhinitis. So what’s the point? Your own smell is organic, after all.
This is true of all scented products. A perfume can say “fragrance free” and still have masking chemicals, so the way to go is with products labeled without perfume.” While organic perfumes limit the additives found in commercial brands and ensure that the scents, oils, floral ingredients are pesticide-free, “fragrance” is the big thing to avoid. Essential oils are the purest way to fragrantly enhance us.
Rarely will a designer scent list out harmful additives like Acetylethyltetramethyltetralin (AETT), Musk ambrette, 6-Methylcoumarin (6-MC), 6-Methylcoumarin (6-MC), Nitrosamines, and Dioxane, plus any other toxic chemicals unregulated by the FDA. This lack of regulation is a result of the fact that RIFM only recommends to the FDA (rather than advising or enforcing) what chemicals perfumes ought to contain. There are masked, potentially dangerous additives in perfume, often masked under the term fragrance. Converting to natural fragrances or “perfume free” products is cheaper, safer, and enhances our lives. After all- do you see bergamot, lily, jasmine or calming sandalwood on EPA ban lists?
I spend so much time trying to educate the general public about the differences between my company and the wellknown french and famous perfumes out there....
As you say, most people don't realize that the so called "notes" you see listed in conventional perfume advertising, are but a fanciful description of how it smells..."notes of blackcurrant and freesia" means "ade of chemical ingredients that bear some passing esemblance to the real thing"!
Beyond the issues of toxicity and allergies however (and you have to keep in mind here that people can be allergic to certain natural flowers too), the difference is really in the scents themselves.
Once you have smelt a REAL perfume, made from actual flowers and herbs, you will suddenly realize how plastic and strange modern day perfumes actually are......
http://www.perfumebynature.com.au
It's such a delight to work with natural fragrances...
I think you're thinking along the right lines but you need to be careful with your terminology if you want to be taken seriously. Organic perfumes by definition must be made *only* from ingredients that have been certified organic by organic certification bodies such as Ecocert (France) or the Soil Association (UK). By definition a perfume is a scent and so is not fragrance-free. Most people think what marketeers expect them to think, which is that "fragrance-free" means "it contains no discernible scent". I think what you mean to say is "Organic perfumes contain no synthetic chemicals that have been suspected as harmful."
As for musk ambrette (not to be confused with ambrette seed oil, which smells musky), that has a total ban on it by the International Fragrance Association (IFRA) and I think if you ask most international mainstream "designer" companies whether they sign up to the self-regulating IFRA guidelines, they will say that they do.
Don't get me wrong, I am a proponent of natural perfumery rather than IFRA. IFRA have severely restricted jasmine and bergamot. Contrary to your last paragraph, these two are actually somewhat close to appearing on "banned" lists. There is also no genuine lily essential oil on the market.
I would recommend you read Tony Burfield at Cropwatch to learn some terminology and to research the field a bit more, and just be careful how you phrase things because this whole industry is about precise definitions of terms.
If you were to use the terminology "fragrance ingredient(s)", it still could be either natural or synthetic, so it would be best to add either of those descriptors to delineate between the two. This would also be extremely helpful to the natural perfumery community, comprised mainly of small, indie businesses, who are diligently attempting to create a niche for this more gentle natural art without using what are becoming increasingly alarming as potentially dangerous cosmetic ingredients, i.e., synthetic chemicals.
The plethora of agencies and research bodies that contribute to emerging regulatory enactment around the globe are ubiquitous, and it is extremely difficult for consumers to make sense of all they do and their connections to one another, let alone their connections to (and influence by) large private fragrance industry leaders. You will see challenges to IFRA regulations, and RIFM research on Cropwatch and at Aromaconnection, based on good science, as these regulations are perused by our own government agencies. In the U.S., however, we have not adopted any of this legislation yet and the FDA Globilization Act (started in 2008) which may mimic legislation begun across the pond is still in committee. We can affect this outcome with diligent watch-dogging and organized, fact-based influence.
I might add that while certified organic is certainly preferable to using natural ingredients grown with synthetic chemical pesticides, there are still many small aromatic extract producers and essential oil distillers whose raw materials are harvested in the wild or grown without harsh synthetic chemical pesticides or fertilisers who may not carry actual organic certification. The costs for obtaining this certification is sometimes very high and some small producers simply cannot afford it. There are natural aromatic products companies like mine working with these producers to help them establish the organic status.
Hope this has been helpful to this conversation.
Marcia Elston
The only thing that should matter before purchasing a mented "Natural" scent is to search for: (100% natural) in the INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients)an indication of the possible natural origine of the secret mix behind "Perfume", "Fragance" or "Flavor"
Every perfume or cosmetic product that does not carry (100% natural) after "Perfume" etc. should be considered as of NON NATURAL ORIGINE or very suspicious to be non natural.
Which producer of real natural perfumes or natural fragances will not do so?
Kind regards to all natural perfumes lovers from bioscent.info
Alfredo Dupetit-Bernardi
Natural Perfumer since 1989
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