Do you use deodorant or perfume?
Do you use deodorant or perfume? I was using them before, until I learned how toxic they can be. Would you believe that they could maybe even be the reason that you’re not able to lose weight, or get pregnant? Seriously!
Fragrance has so many different terms, such as perfume, parfum, eau de parfum, or eau de toilette. You may be thinking that it’s the essential oils that give perfume its fragrance, then they are mixed together with alcohol and water. I wish that was true. I remember how I used to LOVE going to Victoria’s Secret and buying a whole bunch of them, and taking with me as a gift for my sisters.
On the ingredient label, “fragrance” can contain hundreds of chemicals. But manufacturers don’t have to write what they are, they can simply claim that the ingredients are “trade secrets” and not list them. The 1966 Federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA) prevents the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from compelling manufacturers to disclose the chemical compositions of their fragrances, and instead permits manufacturers to omit labeling their products with the specific chemicals used in their formulation. They only require manufacturers to label products with fragrance-concoctions as “fragrance”, “parfum”, or “aroma”.
As a result, “fragrance” is a word representing an unidentified mixture of up to hundreds of ingredients, and products with fragrance can contain sensitizers, allergens, respiratory irritants, carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, neurotoxic chemicals, or environmental toxicants. For example, more than 95 percent of shampoos, conditioners, and styling products contain fragrance.
Think about this — how do you know, in nature, whether a plant is edible or poisonous? First, you need to put on your skin. If you then see a burning sensation, redness, or bumps, then these are all not good signs. If it’s not good for your skin, it's not good for you too. But even if you only put it on your skin, it can still be ingested. It takes on average 20 minutes to enter your bloodstream. So if you can not eat it, don’t put on your skin either.
I use only 100% organic essential oil as a fragrance. But if you like to use perfume, please do make sure to check which one the best choice.
You can learn a lot on the Environmental Working Group website — just type your product name and you will see more detail there: https://www.ewg.org/skindeep.
You can also learn more about the health concern of cosmetics, and see many studies, at http://www.safecosmetics.org/fragrance-disclosure/learn-more/health-effects-chemical-concern/.