Fragrance really is that bad for your skin. Here are the reasons you should try and choose fragrance free skincare, and why I wish skincare companies would stop using it.

This is a touchy subject, the sensory experience of aromatic luxury face cream is important to a lot of consumers. I hate to ruin everybody’s fun, so I’m going to try and take a balanced view. Personally, I never had a problem with fragrance in my skincare products until I started to get into skincare in a serious way. I cut out scented facial skincare a few years ago, now if I use anything with fragrance, I find it appalling. Fragranced face products make my face itchy and stings my eyes and nose.

Based on a non scientific poll of the internet, people would a/ rather not have it, b/ hate it, c/ it brings them out in literal hives or d/ like the experience of smelling nice smells. Whatever camp you sit in, you have obviously arrived here seeking facts, and I have read all the research and this is what you need to know.

There is fragrance in a lot of skincare, cheap and expensive. I tried a serum once that cost more than £200 that contained so much perfume it made my eyes run. Fragrance is an issue for people with any kind of skin condition, and in some people it can cause skin conditions.

Just How Much of a Problem is Fragranced Skincare?

The average person would tend to assume that a company that makes products to improve skin condition wouldn’t add an ingredient that might make skin worse. But that is just what they do. For a lot of people the smell of a face cream is the most important part, the smell of luxury. Those luxurious aromas are highly likely to cause skin issues down the line…

One of the biggest problems with fragrance in cosmetics is that skincare companies don’t have to list specific fragrance ingredients on the ingredient list. There are thousands of chemicals that come under the term “fragrance”, some of them very nasty.

Of the 3,163 chemicals listed as fragrance ingredients, several stand out as particularly toxic: phthalates, octoxynols and nonoxynols. Phthalates, Octoxynols and nonoxynols are potent hormone disruptors. Phthalates are associated with reproductive birth defects in boys (EWG, 2013).

I don’t want anyone to freak out but phthalates are pretty nasty. The global groups that are in charge of the chemicals we’re exposed to talk about banning the stuff but it hasn’t entirely happened yet. Phthalates are in a lot of things, they have only recently been banned from children’s toys. And because they don’t have to be explicit with the exact ingredients of the fragrance we don’t know which products have the phthalates in them, so we can’t necessarily avoid these toxic ingredients unless we go fragrance free.

As much as 34.7 % of people report health problems when exposed to perfumed products. Fragranced products emit  volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as terpenes (e.g., limonene), which are emitted into the air (these are what the nose pick up) and generate secondary pollutants such as formaldehyde (Nazaroff and Weschler 2004).

Between 6 and 14% of patients routinely tested for suspected allergic contact dermatitis react to a fragrance allergy test (SCCS, 2012)

So it’s a real problem. The prevalence of a condition called “Multi Chemical Sensitivity” is increasing, by 300% in the last decade.

Reasons We Don’t Want Any Fragrance, Even Natural Fragrance or Essential Oils in Our Skincare-

This is what it boils down to, these are the things that can go wrong when you stick a bunch of highly irritating allergenic substances into skincare. 

• Irritates atopic dermatitis aka eczema– According to Dermatology Times, fragrances are most likely to cause allergic contact dermatitis. They account for 30-45% of reactions in cosmetic products. Fragrance sensitivity is now seen in 1-4% of the general population, and 8-15% of people with contact dermatitis (Nationaleczema.org, 2020).
• Irritation can cause acne flare up– This quote explains- “The results from this study suggest that inflammatory events occur prior to and act as possible causal factors in the hyperproliferative changes observed in acne lesions, as opposed to secondary consequential events. This study also provides good evidence to support the treatment of uninvolved skin in acne patients and not just the visible lesions alone and may validate the topical use of anti-inflammatory based therapies for this skin disorder (Jeremy et al, 2003). Irritation in the skin can cause spots, keeping the face calm and even will help prevent outbreaks. Irritation caused by unnecessary perfume is a possible acne trigger, if you get acne cutting fragrance out is highly advised for this reason.
• Irritation to eyes– If you suffer from teary sore eyes, fragrance is going to make things a whole lot worse, eyes are so permeable. Fragranced eye cream is a big no no, who would do that?  
• Too many smells– What with scented soap, perfume, body lotion, it’s too much! I would rather choose a specific perfume than be forced  to smell my face cream under my nostrils all day.. We don’t necessarily want to smell that specific smell. If you have several fragranced products, the smells mixed together is overwhelming and unpleasant
• Repeated exposure can lead to allergy– You can develop a sensitivity or allergy after repeated exposure to anything, especially something highly allergenic like fragrance. You put something known to freak out the human immune system on your skin every day, and one day- boom! from then on fragrance is a giant pain in the ass. 
• Inflammaging– There is a theory that low grade inflammation in the skin speeds up the aging process. Paula Begoun is a believer in this theory. Inflammation increases the action of enzymes called Matrix Metallo Proteinases, these enzymes breakdown collagen and speed up the appearance of aging. Definitely not what we’re after. 
• Worsen melasma– The irritation caused by fragrance can cause a reaction at a cellular level, not seen by the naked eye, and after a prolonged period of time cause a condition known as pigmented cosmetic dermatitis. “Pigmented cosmetic dermatitis and fragrance contact sensitivity should be considered as a causative factor when melasma is not obviously caused by hormones (eg. pregnancy or birth control). However, some of these cases having diffuse pattern of hyperpigmentation ( brown, slate-gray gray-brown, red-brown, or blue-brown depending upon the agent) and diagnosed as melasma are possibly due to pigmented cosmetic dermatitis…the fragrance causes low-grade inflammation and hyperpigmentation by way of cytolysis (skin cell damage) and melanin incontinence at basal layer level following irritant reaction or after absorption of allergen from daily application…Avoidance of cosmetic contact hypersensitivity is perhaps a first step in preventing and treating melasma.” (Prabha et al, 2014). “Many cosmetic ingredients were patch tested at non-irritant concentrations and statistical evaluation showed that a number of fragrance ingredients were associated: jasmine absolute, ylang-ylang oil, geraniol, geranium oil, cananga oil, hydroxycitronellal, sandalwood oil, (SCCS, 2012)”. This means that even low percentages of essential oils and fragrances can cause long lasting brown marks, even if there is no visible irritation. To me this is the most alarming downside of using fragrance in skincare, the potential of future disfigurement with no warning.
• Photosensitivity– Increased sensitivity to sunlight causing rashes and redness especially caused by citrus and bergamot.
• Co sensitivity– Increases the likelihood of allergic sensitivity to other ingredients in the same product, for example, preservatives. Preservatives are generally as irritating as fragrance, the difference between fragrance and preservatives is that we can’t do without preservatives- without them the product would deteriorate and mould. You really don’t want to become allergic to preservatives- they’re in everything. Avoiding fragrance is going to reduce your propensity to other allergies.
• Increases irritation from actives like acids and retinoids– Fragrance may well make it more difficult to tolerate AHAs (like glycolic acid) and retinoids (eg tretinoin). Both fragrances and strong actives cause their own reaction at a cellular level. Using fragrance as well as irritating actives will make the whole thing more painful than it needs to be.
• Migraine trigger– If you or someone you love get migraines try cutting out anything rich and fragrant. Migraine is bloody horrendous, not something you wish for your worst enemy. 
• Asthma trigger
• Impossible to avoid specific triggers– Because companies aren’t obligated to list specific fragrance ingredients you can’t simply avoid specific triggers
• Triggering MCS- According to the American Academy of Allergy and Immunology, a small but growing segment is affected by a little understood and even somewhat controversial condition known as multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS).

Why Fragrance Is Bad in a Nutshell

It is a trigger for acne, eczema, dermatitis, asthma, eye irritation, migraine, multi chemical sensitivity, photosensitivity. Even if you have normal young skin and the fragrance doesn’t bother you now,  in itself it can well bring issues down the line. If acne or pigmentation are issues for you, then fragrance is best avoided, all the top skincare minds are in agreement on this. If your goal is to up your skincare game to the point where using actives is a regular, if not daily occurrence then rubbing fragrance into your face is a terrible idea.

Fragrance Free Skincare Options

These are some beauts that haven’t fallen to peer pressure

• Deciem– The Ordinary, Hylamide and NIOD, none of their facial products have fragrance. Here are my The Ordinary guides, if you want to read more about these brands.
• Cerave– Easily accessible, affordable, with nice ingredients like ceramides and niacinamide
• Ishtar Skinlights– Good concentrations of actives in skin friendly formulas, love this brand.
• Inkey list– Similar to The Ordinary, ingredient focused skincare with simple packaging
• Avene– Skincare for dry skin with soothing oat extract
• Pixi Beauty– Most of this is fragranced, but they have a couple of really lovely fragrance free products- pHenomenal gel moisturiser gives a really bouncy finish and Hydrating Milky Makeup Remover is a gorgeous toner.
• Garden of Wisdom– In a similar vein to the Ordinary, GoW does ingredient focused fragrance free products.
• Simple Skincare– Super easy to get hold of in the UK, and has some good basics. Steer clear of the foaming cleansers though.

I know there are loads more- Clinique, Kiehls, Paula’s Choice, but in my opinion they’re overpriced.

There is a podcast that goes with this article- Skincare with Friends. The links may be affiliate, this post is not sponsored. Nobody pays me, but if you click on a link and spend, I can invest in my blog.

References-

Elberling, J., Linneberg, A., Mosbech, H., Dirksen, A., Frølund, L., Madsen, F., Nielsen, N.H. and Johansen, J.D., 2004. A link between skin and airways regarding sensitivity to fragrance products?. British Journal of Dermatology, 151(6), pp.1197-1203.

https://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2010/02/3163-ingredients-hide-behind-word-fragrance

Frosch PJ, Johansen JD, Menne ́ T et al. Further important sensi- tizers in patients sensitive to fragrances. Contact Dermatitis 2002; 47: 78–85. =

 Jeremy, A.H., Holland, D.B., Roberts, S.G., Thomson, K.F. and Cunliffe, W.J., 2003. Inflammatory events are involved in acne lesion initiation. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 121(1), pp.20-27.

https://nationaleczema.org/fragrances-perfumes-eczema-allergy/

Nielsen NH, Linneberg A, Menne ́ T et al. Allergic contact sensitization in an adult Danish population: two cross-sectional sur- veys eight years apart (the Copenhagen Allergy Study). Acta Derm Venereol (Stockh) 2001; 81: 31–4.

Prabha, N., Mahajan, V.K., Mehta, K.S., Chauhan, P.S. and Gupta, M., 2014. Cosmetic contact sensitivity in patients with melasma: results of a pilot study. Dermatology research and practice, 2014. http://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/drp/2014/316219.pdf

2 Schnuch A, Uter W, Geier J et al. Epidemiology of contact allergy: an estimation of morbidity employing the clinical epidemiology and drug-utilization research (CE-DUR) approach. Contact Dermatitis 2002; 47: 32–9.

Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety SCCS (2012) “OPINION on Fragrance allergens in cosmetic products” [online] https://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/consumer_safety/docs/sccs_o_102.pdf

Steinemann A. (2018). National Prevalence and Effects of Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 60(3), e152–e156. https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0000000000001272