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Cosmetic components: Fragrances
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
Fragrances and preservatives - substances whose content in cosmetics is negligible - cause great concern among consumers. Therefore, in order to convince buyers of the safety of their products, some companies put the mark "fragrance-free" and/or "preservative-free" on cosmetic products.
Does this mean that the product really does not contain these components? As a rule, in this case it means the absence of substances of a synthetic nature.
Ideally, fragrances should perform only one function - to give the product a pythic smell and not have any effect on the skin (neither good nor bad. Natural essential oils are a mixture of many components, among which there may be those that do not smell. Such components are unnecessary ballast, since they do not carry any functional load. And yet it is better to get rid of this ballast, since in some particularly sensitive people it can cause unwanted reactions, manifested in the form of allergies.
In principle, any substance (even the most seemingly harmless, such as whey proteins) can be an allergen, but some compounds have stronger allergenic properties. Therefore, in order to minimize the risk of unwanted skin reactions, it is better not to add unnecessary components to a cosmetic product. From this point of view, high-quality synthetic fragrances have an advantage over natural essential oils, since they are "chemically pure" substances, free from accompanying compounds. We especially emphasize that the quality of a synthetic fragrance is determined by the degree of its purification from solvents and by-products. Good synthetic fragrances are quite expensive and are used in high perfumery and elite cosmetics.
The above does not apply to aromatherapy, where the smell is not intended to play a passive role (to improve the consumer properties of the product), but to have an active physiological effect on the body. In this case, a natural mixture of various compounds is usually preferable to a synthetic fragrance consisting of one component. In complex mixtures, different compounds can work together, enhancing or, on the contrary, suppressing each other's action and simultaneously affecting different levels of perception of the human body.
The effects of aromatherapy products are a completely different area.
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