07 Oct Skin-Deep Fragrances

Today close to 80% of your personal body care products and home cleaning products have the ingredient FRAGRANCE or PARFUM listed.

 Check your lotion, body wash, shampoo, conditioner, gel, make up, deodorant and even bathroom spray, the list goes on. What’s the concern you may ask? The ingredient fragrance is used by manufacturers to mask engineered chemical elements that are used to enhance you sense of smell. These chemicals that we would think come from natural plants and flower aromas is not the case. In fact, there are 14 known hidden chemicals behind the word fragrance alone and about 80% of those chemicals have not been tested for human safety in personal care products.

If you’re like me, then I assumed that those ingredients mean nothing more than a good smelling scent added to the product. When I started researching chemicals in products, the word FRAGRANCE AND PARFUM came up often but not in a good way. Once I learned that the skin is the largest organ in our bodies and that it is also just a really big sponge that sucks in anything we apply onto our skin, In through our pores and into our bloodstream. I knew it was time to start looking at what I was using. I started with the one thing I wear every single day and feel like I can’t be without…Lotion. I used to use brands like …

Jergen’s Ultra Healing

Dove

Vaseline intensive care

Nivea Aloe Vera

And yes, you guessed it, they all contain the ingredient called “fragrance”. Now why is this ingredient in almost everything, and why is it so loosely used?

As found on https://www.ewg.org/search/site/fragrance “EWG found that about 75 percent of products that list fragrance contain the hormone disrupting chemical, phthalates. Phthalates, used to make fragrances last longer, have been linked to many hazardous health conditions, such as reduced sperm count, liver and breast cancers, reproductive malformation and diabetes. This carcinogen has been banned in many countries like Japan, South Korea, Canada, & even China, but our government sets such an intense level of proven harm for these chemicals that some say it’s almost impossible to reach. Companies voluntarily comply with many safety standards, but the current law does not require that cosmetic ingredients be free of certain harmful health effects before they are put on the shelves. Even if a chemical is finally put on the chopping block, it can take years for the government to be able to phase out the chemical with the help of the Environmental protection agency.”

 Adding to the problem, hidden behind that word alone. On average each fragrant contains about 14 secret chemicals that are NOT even listed on the ingredients because companies don’t have to! There is no FDA approval process for ingredients in fragrance or body care products, the law does not require it before going on the market. Because of this, I threw all those lotions away and started to use an all-natural skin moisturizer!!! COCONUT OIL!!! Instead of a paragraph of ingredients that I was not familiar with, in turn coconut oil has 1 ingredient! Want to guess the ingredient? Yup, Just coconut oil!

You’re probably wondering how so many companies get away with all of this?

EWG states that “Fragrance acts as a loophole on the FDA’s regulation of personal care products. They are considered a trade secret under the Fair packing and labeling act of 1966 allowing companies to not list ingredients so their formula cannot be replicated easily. Unfortunately, this gives brands an opportunity to add in cost effective, but toxic, chemicals to their products to make a scent that is “better” than natural. But chemically unrecognizable to a naturally occurring scent. They use these chemicals to make sure the spray disperses well and so it lingers for longer, giving the desired effect of perfume and body spray. But at what cost?”

Big companies are stepping forward providing transparency around what chemicals are hidden behind the word fragrance. Companies like Unilever, Proctor and Gamble and not surprised…Johnson & Johnson (Yes, the baby product company, after all that fire they were under for a woman getting ovarian Cancer from utilizing their baby powder) They better start being transparent!!! Its unfortunate that they have to wait until the veil is removed to take action. And as for resources, one of my favorite websites to visit that has an easy to use scale to measure harmful products is…

https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/  This website rates the hazard rate of the product categorized as 1-2 safe, 3-6 moderate hazard, 7-10 high hazard.

The reality today is that the consumer has more information than they have ever had in the past about their health and wellness and how that is affected by products that are driven by profit for these big companies.

You may not show any symptoms or immediate effects from these products after spraying or applying on your skin. The reason for this is because we don’t actually know the long-term effects.

In 1894 Johnson & Johnson introduced baby powder made of crushed talc. For years it was known that many sources of talc is contaminated with Asbestos. Asbestos related diseases usually arise after years of regular exposure. Long term use of asbestos contaminated talcum powder can lead to cancer. It wasn’t until 2017 that Johnson and Johnson had to pay a woman 417 Million dollars who won the lawsuit stating that the baby powder caused her ovarian cancer after using it twice a day throughout the course of 41 years. The company allowed this product to not only sit on the shelf as is for 123 years since their launch but worse targeted innocent infants, babies and toddlers.

Stay curious readers, when you see the word fragrance listed in your ingredients be aware of the harm that it may be associated with and your well-being.

With Love,

Miss Rehab Ramdass

Yesenia Ramdass

Disclaimer: Miss Rehab Ramdass website, blog, social media and videos should not be construed as medical advice. Content from this site and blog are not intended to be used as a medical diagnosis or treatment. The information provided is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice.