Pleasant smells make everything better, like waving a magic wand that adds shine to everything dull and lackluster. It’s why fragrances are such an integral part of our personal care products. Fragrance in skincare has become something of a villain in the past few years with more people than ever rejecting any product that lists fragrance.
Is fragrance in skincare such a huge problem? It’s not an easy question to answer.
Why is there fragrance in skincare?
The most obvious reason fragrance is used in skincare is providing a pleasant user experience. Positive effects on our skin is the most valuable aspect of a product. But it takes time and sustained effort to see any effects. Small factors like aesthetically pleasing, user-friendly packaging and comforting smell and texture can covertly encourage us to be consistent with use.
Beneficial skincare ingredients may sometimes have an unpleasant odor, discouraging use. Adding a small amount of fragrance can mask the bad smell, improving our experience. A product with a bad smell is more likely to sit in the back of your drawer rather than being used and benefitted from.
Some fragrance components also function as preservatives. While not the primary preservatives, they work along with them to prevent mold growth that causes adverse reactions.
Is fragrance in skincare harmful?
Not necessarily. The major concern with fragrance is the chance of contact dermatitis. Contact dermatitis is the inflammation of skin caused by contact with a particular substance. A significant percent of contact dermatitis from skincare can be traced back to fragrance. But a very small portion of the population is affected by perfumed skincare.
Fragrance is not one substance, but rather a wide variety of compounds. You can have an allergic reaction to one fragrance compound but be completely fine with another. But the specific compounds are rarely listed in the ingredients list, most products resorting to simply mentioning fragrance or parfum as more details can reveal their unique formula. This can make it harder for people with allergies to identify and avoid products that use specific allergens.
Purging or allergic reaction?
If you have an adverse reaction to a skincare product, it’s best to stop using it. What makes this hard is the expectation of purging with certain products. Purging is often characterized by breakouts and is expected with certain ingredients like retinoids, AHAs and BHAs. Sometimes, people confuse allergic reactions with purging, so they continue using the product that’s harming them. But it’s easy to tell the difference between the two.
Purging is caused by increased cell turnover rate, bringing underlying impurities up top faster. But the breakouts tend to be centered in the same spots where you usually get them. They tend to be blackheads, whiteheads, and smaller pimples. Purging is temporary and should stop after a period of time.
Allergic reactions are caused when your skin disagrees with a certain substance. Your immune system overreacts to it through redness, itchiness, inflammation and irritation to signal that you shouldn’t use the product anymore. They can happen on parts of your skin that were previously fine. While purging should be temporary, allergic reactions continue on and are quite harmful to your skin.
Should you be worried?
Do you usually have reactions to fragrance in skincare? If yes, it’s best to go for skincare products that don’t use fragrance.
Dermatologists are more likely to recommend fragrance-free products just to stay on the safer side, but that doesn’t mean fragranced products are harmful.
If you’ve never had a reaction to fragrance in skincare before, there is little reason to worry. The percentage of fragrance compounds is miniscule in skincare and the vast majority of people have no reactions to it. The fragrance can be as little as 1 part in 10,000 parts, making it mostly harmless. If you have a moisturizer or serum with fragrance that works well for you, there’s no reason to throw it away.
Products that are designed to stay on the skin contain much less fragrance than products that are designed to be washed off.
Very few people are allergic to fragrance in skincare, so the backlash towards it in the past few years is vastly overblown. A part of it is the appeal to nature fallacy where people have a feeling that ‘natural’ compounds are considered safe and synthetic products are considered harmful. There is no proof to support this idea. A lot of fragrance compounds are present in nature and may or may not be harmful. Some fragrance compounds are created in a lab and safe to use. ‘Fragrance-free’ labels are usually marketing tactics to make consumers feel good about buying a product.
A positive impact of the release of fragrance free alternatives to popular skincare products is that people with sensitive skin now have a wider variety than usual.
If you’re using actives (products that are highly potent like retinoids and chemical peels), your skin can become more sensitive than usual due to high cell turnover. It’s better to use calming products alongside them without fragrance.
There is no need to discard the fragranced skincare products you love. Enjoy the experience of a scented lotion without fear.
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