Essential oils vs Fragrance
When reading a soap label it can be easy to confuse fragrance and essential oils as being synonymous. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Indeed both fragrances and essential oils are responsible for scenting various products. But that is essentially where their similarities end. In this article we’ll take a look at some key differences between these two popular ingredients.
Fragrances are defined by the Environmental Working Group as “an undisclosed mixture of various scent chemicals and ingredients used as fragrance dispersants such as diethyl phthalate.” Essentially these are chemical cocktails that may contain some natural derivatives, but most are a combination of synthetically derived preservatives, binding agents, and plasticizers. You can read more about these here. According to the International Fragrance association there are over 3,500 fragrance chemicals used across multiple industries. Perhaps most disturbing is that companies aren’t even required to disclose what chemicals they are using in their fragrances. According to EWG exposure to these fragrance chemicals is not benign and can lead to a plethora or health issues including hormone disruption, reproductive disruption, respiratory distress and even cancer. But who regulates these chemicals? The FDA regulates what products these fragrances end up in such as cosmetics. But the body responsible for regulating the contents of these fragrances is actually a private industry trade group, which may be the reason fragrance ingredients do not have to be disclosed. That means a private industry can stand to profit based off of the regulations they set. Even the word “unscented” doesn’t actually mean what is says. Unscented products may still contain masking agents that cover up the smell of other chemicals.
Essential Oils as defined by the oxford dictionary are “a natural oil typically obtained by distillation and having the characteristic fragrance of the plant or other source from which it is extracted.” Essential oils have been used since before the birth of Christ. Use of essential oils can be documented as far back as the 3000 BC with Egyptians, Chinese and Indians discovering and using essential oils around the same time. The Chinese emperor Huang Ti wrote a book in the late 2500s BC on the medicinal effects of essential oils and it is still used by practitioners of eastern medicine to this day. Exodus in the New Testament also makes reference to essential oils as the “holy anointing oils” containing cinnamon, cassia, clove, olive oil and spikenard. In many parts of Europe today, it is common for doctors to ask patients if they prefer prescription medicine or essential oil therapy. Both treatments are available in many European pharmacies (EssentialOilsAcademy). Essential oils are naturally derived from real plants and do not contain artificial preservatives, binding agents and plasticizers. They have been tested and proven by time and have been used for thousands of years. Of course if a person is allergic to the plant, they shouldn’t use the essential oil. We also recommend sampling the product that contains essential oil on a small patch of skin in order to see if any sensitivities occur.
The research seems to indicate that essential oils are a better alternative to fragrances. The plants can be found in nature, require minimal refinement, and have been tested by time. That’s why we use only essential oils to scent our soaps. You may want to read the ingredients of some of the products you use; you’ll probably be surprised, and a little horrified, by how many contain fragrances.
Works Cited:
https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2023/07/what-fragrance