NATURAL Fragrance: Smell Great and Be Healthy

In every cosmetic product, nothing beats au naturel

Natural fragrance DOES NOT mean your natural body odour (Ew!). You know…the kind that smells sour after a day’s work (of sitting at your computer). Not that. What we mean by natural fragrance is that the ingredients of that fragrance are aromatic (naturally smell great), raw, and obtained by physical methods (as opposed to chemical means). Physical methods include extraction, expression, and distillation. Extraction shouldn’t be done with the use of petrochemicals.

In essence, a natural fragrance is made up of a complex blend of aromatic, natural, raw materials like resins, isolates, distillates, concentrates, and essential oils. If you want to wear fragrance, look for natural alternatives. Then you won’t be giving your body a toxic load of unwanted chemicals.

The Skin – A Marvellous and Generous Organ

Your skin is a marvellous and generous organ because it has the capacity to absorb more than 60 percent on what you apply or spray on it (healthy or harmful). What you drink and eat can ultimately show up in your skin too. It’s like busy two-way traffic. You can test your skin’s ability to breath just by eating garlic. After a few hours of digestion, your skin can smell like garlic. It’s not just in your breath!

Unfortunately, your skin doesn’t have the ability to filter what it absorbs. Fragrance companies have access to more than 3,000 potentially harmful chemicals to keep your nostrils saturated and fooled. All of them are legally hidden under the label “fragrance”. To reduce your exposure to a cocktail of chemical toxins including skin and airway irritants, potential hormone disruptors and sensitizers, try natural perfumes which don’t sabotage your skin and health. They’re a lot better for your skin to absorb.

Common Types of Fragrance

There are different types of fragrances. It all depends on how you categorise them. Here, we will describe some of the most common ones:

Parfum. It lasts the longest on the skin because the perfume oil concentration is the highest at 20%. It’s very expensive so is less available than Eau de Parfum.
Eau de Parfum. The most common of the perfumes. It’s very noticeable to others and is magnified in the heat. It has a concentration of 10-20%.
Eau de Toilette spray. Eau de toilette spray is one of the most popular fragrances around today. It has a fragrance concentration of 5 to 15 percent. The fragrance can last anywhere between 2 to 3 hours.
Body spray. Body sprays last a shorter time than perfume. The scent is also lighter. It contains less oil, but more alcohol. It is also generally cheaper than perfume.
Roll on perfume. Do you know what pulse points are? These are parts of your body which give or project a pulse (from your beating heart). It’s no surprise that applying perfume to these parts can effectively increase your scent. Roll on perfumes work fine on your pulse points.
Cream perfume. Cream-based perfumes have recently invaded the fragrance community. Like roll on perfume they are easy to apply and moisturise the skin at the same time.
Eau de Cologne. Also known just as cologne, they are usually used by men and have a fragrance concentration of 5 percent or less. The fragrance can last up to two hours.
Body splash/aftershave. This is one for the guys. It’s designed to be used frequently and can be applied all over the body. It has a fragrance concentration of just 1-3%.

Make Sure Your Perfume is All Natural

There are some things you can do to verify if your perfume is natural. The fragrance component on the packaging should be asterisked and noted, perhaps under the ingredients, that it is “from or a component of natural essential oils”. If it doesn’t, chances are that it’s made up of a mixture of synthetic and natural fragrance formulas. Beware of the word “fragrance” as part of the list of ingredients when it has no referencing. Some harmful chemicals are surely hidden there.

Be on the Safe Side – Safe Preservatives and Dispersants in your Natural Perfume

In addition to natural essential oils, there are other ingredients which can be obtained from plants that may be in your natural perfume.

Ingredient	What it is
Dehydroacetic acid	Nature identical *eco cert validated preservative. Found in plants (Solandra, a genus of flowering plants).
Benzyl alcohol	Nature identical eco cert validated preservative. Naturally found in teas, essential oils, and fruits. Eco cert is an international inspection and certification organisation that validates and certifies the absence of GMO, parabens, phenoxyethanol, nanoparticles, silicon, PEG, synthetic perfumes and dyes, animal-derived ingredients
Glycerin	A clear odourless liquid produced from plant sugars. It assists unity of the fragrance blend. Soft and moisturising on the skin.
Xanthan gum	A naturally occurring polysaccharide formed on plants belonging to the cabbage family. It assists unity of the fragrance blend.
Benzyl benzoate	Component of natural essential oils.
Benzyl salicylate	Component of natural essential oils.
Copyright © Return2Health Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Don’t be disheartened when you hear or personally experience an allergic reaction to perfume containing eco cert essential oils. It’s just human nature that some individuals will be overly sensitive, even to natural essential oils. Patch tests are the way to go when you want to test a new perfume on your delicate skin, even when its natural perfume.

The Odour of Truth

The greatest problem when it comes to synthetic perfume is that most of the chemicals are hidden under the label “parfum” or “fragrance” on your cosmetic product. This makes natural perfume all the more essential when it comes to your health and safety. Truth be told, when it comes to perfume or any consumer product, your health and safety is always number 1. You may artificially smell great, but if it can ultimately harm your health, more so your life, it’s just not worth it. What good is it to smell great in your coffin? Natural is way better!