Smell Better

Want to smell better? Avoid synthetic fragrances. They’re in our cleaners, air fresheners, beauty products and—of course—perfumes. And they’re pretty much all made from oil: According to the National Academy of Sciences, more than 95 percent of the chemicals used in synthetic fragrances are derived from petroleum.

Plus, they’re toxic: A study by the Environmental Working Group and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics analyzed 17 of the market’s most popular perfumes and found that they contain, on average, 14 hazardous chemicals that aren’t listed on their labels; these chemicals can cause allergic reactions, reproductive damage and hormone disruption.

Need more? Synthetic perfumes just might make you fat: A study published by Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center linked phthalates in fragrance with obesity.

A great way to avoid synthetic perfumes is to simply read your labels: If you see the word “fragrance” and it doesn’t tell you what natural source it is derived from, put the product back on the shelf.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2014 at 8:38 am. It is filed under Sustainability and tagged with fragrance, perfume, scent, smell. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.