Is Fragrance Bad for You?

When I talk about non-toxic swaps, I think ditching fragrance can be one of the hardest for people. Most people have their favorite perfume(s) or candles or cleaning products and that can be hard to let go of. Humans are designed to attach sentiment to scents, so it only makes… sense…

Maybe you’re here because you’re already ready to ditch synthetic fragrances or maybe you’re interested in more information about why that’s a healthy choice anyway. In this post I’ll be providing information about synthetic fragrances and why you may want to switch to a more natural version.

I’ve written before about alternatives to candles and conventional cleaning products (a major source of fragrances that are bad for you!) if you want to check those out. And coming up next I’ll be providing some recommendations for safer perfume swaps if that’s something you’re interested in. 

One thing that really bothers me about the discussion around fragrance is that most of what you can find on it is either citing old data or just recirculation of the same key talking points. What I mean is that most posts just link to other posts linking to other posts that all say basically the same thing and don’t have much actual data behind them. This frustrates me to no end! But again, I digress…

This post will provide you with some actual data. Not all of it, but a decent sampling and a good starting point.  Rest assured, too, that I’ve looked at more data than just what I’m citing here.

So is fragrance bad for you? I’m going to go ahead and just throw out the general line that fragrance can be harmful to health and that I generally recommend avoiding it if you can. Let’s get into why. 

Fragrances can contain toxins, including endocrine disruptors

Health concerns of fragrance use

How much should I worry about it?

What about natural fragrances?

Summary / TLDR

Fragrances can contain toxins, including endocrine disruptors

There are a few toxins that can be found in fragrance, the primary concern being phthalates, which are known endocrine disruptors (jump down to the health concerns section to read more about what that means or just hang tight until we get there.)

We have pretty clear evidence that phthalates are harmful to health. Unfortunately, phthalates are frequently found in fragrances in perfumes, personal care products, cleaners, candles, and so on. 

Phthalates are found in fragranced products because they’re very useful. They can help something keep their form but be flexible, but in the case of fragrance, they are what “binds” the scent. These compounds are typically referred to as fixatives. Phthalate fixatives are what makes the perfume scent stick around. It’s very difficult to get fragrances to linger as long as people want them to without phthalates. 

Additionally, synthetic fragrances are typically petroleum-based, which means the scent itself potentially contributes to the phthalate and other toxin load. A lot of final fragrances are actually a mixture of synthetic and naturally-derived fragrances, but almost always with petroleum-based fixatives, which again, are the major source of phthalates here.

That’s something I talk about quite a bit. Sometimes switching to more natural, safer products means changing our expectations of performance. Not that you have to use products that straight up don’t work. But if you want to use products that perform in ways that aren’t natural (a perfume that sticks around for hours on end or turning hard bamboo into soft fabric), you’re going to have to rely on chemicals for that. And then you have to deal with the consequences of those chemicals, which we’re still learning about. 

Additional toxins that can be found in fragrance are aldehydes, parabens, and aluminum salts, all with their own impacts.

One of the most difficult things about fragrance is that, because of the current laws around it, companies do not have to disclose what is in their fragrances. This means a particular fragrance could have phthalates or could not and you have no way of knowing unless you get it tested in a lab… which like… who can just do that?

Generally, I find it best to limit or completely avoid the use of products that have “fragrance” on the list of ingredients because you just can’t know. You cannot know what’s in it and chances are it’s not great.

Health concerns of fragrance use

The two main concerns are irritation and allergic reaction type responses as well as endocrine system impacts.

If you don’t know what an endocrine disruptor is, it’d probably be good for you to go read this post, which provides a thorough run down. At least skim the TLDR section to get a basic understanding. 

Essentially, endocrine disruptors are compounds/chemicals that mimic or in some other way disrupt hormones, causing changes in the functioning of the endocrine system and impacting its ability to carry out its various jobs of regulating certain processes and guiding development during key times of life. 

Endocrine disruptors are generally considered not good for you as they are increasingly linked to negative health outcomes and impaired development. There is some dispute on what all of the endocrine disruptors are and how bad they are and what concentrations are safe. 

However, as I said a moment ago, phthalates are pretty conclusively bad for you. There’s a reason they’ve gotten as much attention as they have over the last decade or so. 

Other health concerns associated with synthetic fragrance are respiratory issues, including asthma, skin irritation, and neurological issues. It’s actually super common for people to be really sensitive to synthetic fragrances and everyone is different about it. 

I know I have family members who get instant headaches when someone around them is perfume. I’m not that bad but I can experience it if it’s strong enough. My issue is that I can’t use fragranced skin products because they give me rashes or just burn my skin. This is very common and common sense tells us this means fragrances are probably pretty irritating and probably not that good for you… But I digress. 

Aside from all of these things are potential links with other negative health outcomes, including cardiovascular issues. Some have even measured that phthalates increase cardiovascular mortality significantly and that the healthcare and lost productivity costs associated with phthalate exposure are upward of $40 billion. That’s obviously very difficult to realistically measure, but it’s a projection that’s been made.

Either way you cut it, the health and endocrine impacts of phthalates are huge and worth considering. Again, refer to my work on endocrine disruptors if you want to learn more about that. This specific post on health impacts of endocrine disruptors may be particularly helpful.

How much should I worry about it?

As for the irritation and allergy type effects, that’s going to depend on how sensitive you are to chemical and environmental irritants. Demographics like age, gender, general health, and others will likely all play into the severity of this.

The larger concern for the general population is going to be those endocrine effects we discussed. Fragrance is one of those things that, unless you’re sensitive to it, isn’t necessarily going to harm you now. However, because of the endocrine system impacts, synthetic fragrances are likely having unseen impacts that may or may not ever cause any noticeable issues in the future. 

The biggest issues you may face would relate to endocrine-controlled processes like development, fertility, and certain kinds of cancers, though like I mentioned, cardiovascular issues are of rising concern. Those at highest risk for these issues are going to be those exposed in utero, early childhood, puberty. Adults generally want to consider these impacts because of the impact on their children through genetics, epigenetics, and uterine development, as well as exposing young children. 

And for a little side note: interestingly enough, though I usually talk about toxin exposure occurring more through dietary exposure than dermal, DEP is one toxin that actually is absorbed dermally more than dietarily. Now, this is likely because DEP doesn’t show up in our food or water, but the point is that it is unlikely to be digested and is showing up in the body, so it is definitely entering the body through the skin at significant levels.

Aside from the fact that, generally speaking, fragrances contain phthalates and the other mentioned toxins and are worth avoiding, there have been major improvements made in the industry.

There was a report by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) that came out in 2002 called Not Too Pretty that tested levels of phthalates of fragranced products and fragrances themselves and found pretty high levels of a couple concerning phthalates as well as just a large number of specific phthalates, generally. They didn’t test all the products in the world, but it was a good sample of popular products. 

In 2008, they retested products and actually found that levels of the most commonly used phthalate DEP (that previously saw extremely high concentration levels) had significantly reduced and that all products were limiting their use of different phthalates as well, some using only DEP at this point. 

That was over 15 years ago. To my knowledge, they haven’t repeated this test and it could have improved even more since then. Important to note is that the EWG definitely has an agenda, so I can’t count all their work as unbiased, but I think these reports are accurate and worth looking at.

And beside this, there are several other toxins in synthetic fragrances, as we discussed above. 

The bottom line is that you should definitely be concerned about phthalates (and other toxins) in fragranced products. I recommend avoiding fragrance entirely, actually. However, the situation has improved drastically and they are likely not AS BAD as they used to be. 

What about natural fragrances?

I’m not going to get into it too heavily here, but I did want to make a couple of points about natural fragrances as well as essential oils. What we have talked about so far applies mostly to synthetic fragrances. What about other options. 

Unfortunately, because the word “natural” is not regulated in any industry, it can be used in many different ways and doesn’t necessarily convey that something is 100% natural.  In fact, it’s usually not. I mean, even 100% natural could just mean it’s source is 100% natural but it was modified in a lab. 

Natural fragrances can be more safe, because often a natural fragrance is at least sourced from natural raw materials, even though most are modified and processed in a lab. This eliminates a lot of the possibility for various toxins that come from the petroleum in petroleum-based synthetic fragrances. However, there are still processing issues sometimes as well as the use of more natural fixative.

Whatever problems may remain, natural fragrances are certainly safer than synthetic, even if only because they typically do not use the traditional fixatives that are PFAS- and phthalate-based. That’s a huge win.

The tricky part is, like I said, it’s nearly impossible to verify that a “natural fragrance” is actually even naturally sourced. It could be that just part of it is naturally sourced. There’s really nothing to stop a manufacturer from saying their fragrance is “natural” even if 99% of it is synthetic.

As for essential oils, they’re typically not toxic, so long as processing is handled well and weird things aren’t being added in. However, individuals can be allergic to specific essential oils and some people who are sensitive to fragrances will be just as sensitive to a lot of essential oils. They can be a better option, but they aren’t always going to be perfect. 

Additionally, it’s important to note that some essential oils are thought to be endocrine disruptors. Specifically, lavender and tea tree oils have had some flags raised for causing endocrine disruption in males and that lavender was potentially problematic for females, though this is somewhat harder to determine. A general recommendation with essential oils is to ensure dilution through carrier oils or in products like lotions and to limit the use of lavender and tea tree oil specifically with your male children. Early childhood and puberty are going to be the most crucial years for this. 

So yes, generally speaking, natural fragrances and essential oils are safer than synthetic fragrances and likely have way less toxic exposure potential, particularly because they nix the PFAS and phthalate fixatives typically used in conventional products. However, they do not come without their own usage concerns and the necessity for close consideration of individual products. 

Summary / TLDR

The bottom line is that fragrance, particularly synthetic fragrance, the kind found in most commercial products, is likely harmful. This is largely due to the presence of phthalates and other toxins coming from the petroleum base of the fragrances as well as the petroleum-based fixatives used to ensure the scent lingers. 

Most of the time, the bulk of the problem lies in the use of fixatives to make the scent appear stronger or last longer. These are almost always phthalates that are very harmful for health.

I repeat, if you want something to behave in a way that it doesn’t naturally want to, you’re likely going to have to employ unnatural means and suffer the consequences of those means. In this case, the use of phthalates and the general presence of other toxins in synthetic fragrances are likely contributing to dermal and respiratory irritation, allergic reactions, cardiovascular disease, and endocrine disruption that can cause lifelong issues with a variety of negative health outcomes like fertility and cancer. 

I don’t often take a hard stance against things, but it is my general recommendation to completely avoid synthetic fragrances. Again, I know this can be incredibly difficult for most people, and you’re going to do what you’re going to do. However, if you’re reading this and would like to reduce your exposure to toxins, eliminating fragrance from your products is an amazing place to start. 

Though I recommend complete avoidance of synthetic fragrances, even a reduction would be beneficial for your health and the health of your family. If you can’t ditch it all, try picking one product category to eliminate fragrance from. Maybe that’s cleaning products, shower products, or body lotions. 

Any change you can make in this area is a change for the good. 

Luckily, there are so many amazing options out there today that do not use phthalate fixatives and are much cleaner and safer for you and your family. If you’re interested in a quick breakdown in the different types of safer options out there as well as brand recommendations, check out this post.

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