Anti-Aging Choices and Healthy Homes

What is Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS)?

Check the Labels on Your Personal Care Products! 

The term 'fragrance' is extremely misunderstood. The following definitions and comparisons should help you understand some important aspects of fragrance chemistry and technology.

Synthetic vs Natural

The personal-care industry term "natural" can be used for any ingredient that can be found in nature. That means a fragrant ingredient can be classified as "natural" when it is extracted from natural sources (plants, soil, animals) or when the identical ingredient is chemically synthesized in the lab. Most synthesized chemical ingredients are produced from smaller chemical components that are derived from petroleum oil. This synthesized fragrance may be referred to as a "synthetic natural" product or as a "natural product".

Imitation vs Natural

An "imitation" fragrance is usually a "synthetic" product created to have an odor similar to a "natural" one. Synthetic imitation fragrances are NOT found in nature - the chemical industry has created them. An inexpensive synthetic chemical can have a very similar odor to an expensive natural fragrance. A synthetic imitation fragrance may have an odor that is many times stronger than the odor of a more costly natural fragrance. Such an odorous imitation fragrance has great potential as a "cheap" ingredient in synthetic perfumes and to scent personal products.

The skin may be sensitized when personal-care products containing "synthetic imitation" fragrances are applied. This sensitization is caused from the newness of this "synthetic imitation" fragrance to the environment of the skin. Stay away from synthetic fragrances.

"Fragrance-free" Misnomer

First of all, nearly all chemical compounds have an odor. Odor detection can be quite specific from one animal species to another. Human odor detection is a very big business. Personal-care products are often scented to enhance their acceptability to the public. Providing the same product with different scents can diversify the product to be accepted my more people. Creating a "fragrance-free" product is nearly impossible - there is generally some detectable odor.

The company I deal with has developed many "fragrance-free" products for those who want to minimize their exposure to fragrances and for those who desire to scent their own products with natural essential oils. Some of the products that contain "fragrance" in their ingredient list were formulated to disguise a malodor coming from a beneficial natural extract. In addition, some beneficial natural extracts may also contain a pleasant-smelling fragrance

"Eternity": a shortcut to eternity?

From Cancer Prevention News, January, 2001 (newsletter of the Cancer Prevention Coalition)

"On May 11, 1999, the California Environmental Health Network filed a Citizen Petition with the FDA requiring warning labels on all fragrances which are marketed without prior adequate safety testing. Additionally, the petition requested the FDA to take administrative action and declare Calvin Klein's Cosmetic Company "Eternity eau de parfume" as-"misbranded." This petition has been supported and endorsed by the CPC. While Eternity perfume has been known since 1995 as toxic to the respiratory tract and nervous system, the petition was based on recent analysis of the perfume by two independent laboratories, Scientific Instruments Services and the cosmetic industry's Research Institute of Fragrance Materials Laboratory. Of all 41 ingredients identified, no toxicity data are available on some, data on most are inadequate, and others are known to be toxic to the skin, mucous membranes, respiratory tract, and reproductive and nervous systems by routes including skin absorption and inhalation. Additionally, two ingredients (phenyimethyl acetic acid ester and 2,6-bis (1,1-dimethylethyl) -4-methyl-phenol) were identified as carcinogens. The FDA has 180 days to respond to this petition. However, any positive response is most unlikely."

How to Smell A Fragrance

 You may think that you know how to smell. After all, you've been doing it all of your life. Sampling a fragrance, however, is very different than smelling things that you encounter during the course of your day.

 Many of the odors that you will notice, such as exhaust fumes, hairspray, deodorant,-cut grass, etc., are "single scents". The simple act of breathing brings these odors into your nose, where your brain "matches" them to the odors that you have experienced in the past. Recognizing which odor your are perceiving means that the "match" was successful, and your brain understands that you have smelled this scent before.

 A fragrance, on the other hand, is a group of scents, or odors, that have been combined. This can get a bit confusing about now, because some of what have just been described as "single scents", like the hairspray example above, contain commercial "perfumes", which are actually fragrances. In order to clarify this situation, you need to know something about music. Music? Yes, music! 

Perfumers, and other people who create fragrances, describe scents in the same way that musicians speak of music: in "notes". A single scent molecule is considered as a musical "note". The perfumer blends these scents into a fragrance, in the same way that a musician combines notes into music. For example, the odor of vinegar, or strawberries, would be a "single scent", or "note", for our purposes. Each of these scents is unique, and recognizable.

 The average perfume contains about 125 different "notes", or scents, in its formula. By combining these "notes", the individual scents are hidden, and the fragrance is not recognizable or familiar. The fragrance "Old Spice" is a good example of a scent that has no dominate, recognizable odor.

 In order for a substance to have a perceivable odor, some of it must be reaching your nose. Chemists describe this phenomena as "volatility". When a substance is "volatile", it means that molecules of the substance "evaporate", or leave the surface of the material, and fly off into the air.  Alcohol is "volatile", as are the hydrocarbons that make up gasoline, and both easily evaporate.

Different substances have different rates of evaporation, or "volatility". Some substances evaporate quickly, like the alcohols, while others are much slower, like tree pitches and resins. The most volatile portions of a fragrance are referred to as the "top notes". The slowest substances are called "base notes", or "the dry out". Those substances which are neither top notes, nor base notes, are usually referred to as the "middle notes", or "heart notes".

Classic perfumes contain all three types of "notes", and therefore there is an "evolution" to the scent. In other words, the fragrance "evolves", or changes over time. A good way to understand this process is to picture an orchestra which, during the course of a day, looses members until no sound can be heard. With the loss of an individual orchestra member, the sound produced from that person's instrument no longer contributes to the music, and therefore, the tone of the music changes. So it is with a fragrance.

Since the scent of the fragrance changes over time, the scent that you smell initially is different from the scent that you will smell later, or the one that you will wear. The "top notes" being the most volatile, the scents that they contribute to the fragrance are the most fleeting. When smelling a fragrance from the bottle, or when it's first applied, the "top notes" are the most dominate scents. This is why this initial smelling is the most unreliable, in determining whether or not you will like the fragrance.

The best way to evaluate a fragrance is to lightly mist the air, then quickly wave your hand through the mist. Misting your hand or forearm directly will also work, as long as you remember to allow the alcohol in the fragrance to dry, prior to smelling it. If you were to smell the scent as soon as the alcohol has dried, you would be smelling mostly "top notes". The fragrance has not yet had an opportunity to blend itself with your body chemistry. Allowing the fragrance some time to "marry" with your own body scent will give you the best indication of how the fragrance will smell on you.

Fragrance Facts & Fiction

1. Fragrance has been used for centuries with a long history of safe use.
Up until the late 1800s virtually all raw materials came from plant or animal sources. Use of fragrance was primarily for religious, medicinal, and luxury use. Presently 80-90% of the materials used in modern fragrance are synthetic. Multiple scented products are used on a daily basis. Both materials and use patterns are vastly different their ancient counterparts. Safety based on history of use does not apply unless both materials used and use is the same.

2. Fragrance is well regulated.
By all accounts, the fragrance industry is primarily self-regulated. Safety tested before marketing is not required and ingredients used in fragrance formulas do not have to be disclosed even to regulatory agencies. In general fragrance is a very low priority among regulatory agencies and there is little monitoring of compliance or enforcement of laws that are in place. There is a self-regulatory system in place within the fragrance industry. Compliance with recommendations are voluntary and rarely monitored. It is not unusual for products to contain several known sensitizers.

3. Fragrance can be maintained in a "personal circle of scent"
Scented products are volatile substance and get into the air quickly. Once in the air, containment to a defined space is impossible. Further scented products are designed to diffuse into the air and linger.

4. Natural means products are safe.
Whether a product is made of natural or synthetic materials in and of itself is not an indication of safety. Properties other than the source of the materials determine its safety. Natural materials do have a longer history of use so that more is known about beneficial and negative qualities. Obviously toxic natural materials have been eliminated from use over the centuries. There is no legal definition for "natural" so the term when used on labels may be misleading.

5. Concerns related to scented products are not based on science.
In relationship to use there is limited information available. However, there is considerable science available that supports both health concerns. Present medical and scientific literature supports concerns related to allergy, respiratory effects, bioaccumulation, and other potential health concerns.

6. The effects of fragrance are purely psychological.
There are certainly psychological effects of fragrance. Odor interpretation is often tied to past experiences and odor is a powerful stimulus for memory. Unpleasant odors are frequently considered bad and pleasant odors benign. Odor is only one property of the materials used in fragrance. Odors can have physical effects such as stimulating hunger, triggering alarm responses, etc. There are both psychological and physical aspects involved in odor detection and interpretation. In addition fragrance materials have properties in addition to odor that can cause physical effects. Materials may be allergens and irritants, stimulate the trigeminal nerve, be carcinogens, have estrogenic effects and many other properties that cause physiological effects that are unrelated to odor.

7. Fragrance can alter emotion and mood
There is also a growing body of literature that supports fragrant botanicals contain active ingredients that can alter mood and emotional state. The mechanisms involved seem to be both psychological and physical.

8. Odor is a reliable indication of the presence of fragrance
Fragrance may be present even if there is no apparent odor. Fragrance materials used to mask odors may compete with olfactory receptors so that neither they or the material they are masking are perceived. Further the olfactory system is unable to detect the same odor at the same level for long periods of time. So continued exposure results in less acute detection of the scent.

9. Only a few people have problems from fragrance. 
When those that are negatively impacted by fragrance are considered collectively, a huge segment of the population is represented. Those with asthma (0ver 17 million), chronic sinus problems (35 million), rhinitis (9 million), migraines (25 million), and skin allergies to fragrance (1-2% of the population) are potentially negatively impacted by fragrance. There is certainly overlap in these conditions and not every person with these conditions find fragrance problematic. Surveys have shown that up 72% of asthmatics are triggered by fragrance. Fragrance as an indoor air pollutant has the potential to affect everyone. Up to 15% of the general population cited fragrance as a lower airway irritant.

10. Restrictions on fragrance is a restriction on personal rights
In any society there are restrictions on personal rights. Society is the interaction of people and there are rules which limit personal behavior when it is violates societal standards or poses risks to others. Growing numbers of people are finding fragrance is a barrier to accessing medical care, work, and other activities. If the industry does not address concerns and make a concerted effort to ensure products are safe for all (both the user and those inadvertently exposed) restrictions on fragrance use is some areas will be inevitable.