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With most conventional perfumes or aftershaves you’re usually getting a container (albeit a nice one) of synthetic chemicals. You could also be getting animal products. If you’re lucky there might be a few essential oils in there too.
Manufacturers are legally exempt from providing full ingredient listings. This is due to successful company lobbying and claims from manufacturers that providing a full list of ingredients would be giving away closely guarded product formulas to rival companies.
But as with other products where full labelling is exempt, here at Scene Green, we don’t feel comfortable using products when the manufacturer won’t actually tell us what’s in them. Since we can't provide full product ingredients, we've researched a selection of ingredients to give you an idea of what might be included in your favourite conventional perfume -
Conventional fragrances may contain ingredients of animal origin, which have been used for centuries in perfume and are highly prized not just for their scent, but also for their use as fixatives to make the product last longer and to ‘bring out’ the more delicate scents included in the perfume. One of the most expensive perfume ingredients is musk – which is obtained from a gland of the male musk deer – which must be killed in order to harvest it, which is a particular problem since all 4 species of musk deer are endangered. Castoreum is another animal perfume ingredient, which comes from follicles near the genitals of beavers – again, the animal is killed in order to harvest the ingredient. Civet is a musk obtained from the scent gland of the civet and can be harvested without having to kill the animal. But in certain parts of Africa, wild civet are caught and housed in tiny cages with no regard for the welfare of the animal. The musk is taken from the civet every 9 – 15 days, when the perineal gland at the base of the animal’s tail is scraped – which is painful and distressing for the animal. The only animal ingredient that we could find that does not cause suffering or death of the animal from which it is obtained is ambergris. Ambergris is a secretion of the intestines of the sperm whale. The ambergris is excreted naturally by the animal in the form of a large lump and will spend years floating on seawater before being gathered and diluted for use (it smells very unpleasant when freshly excreted or if it isn't very diluted). Unlike the other animal perfume ingredients, Scene Green can see no problem with using this substance since it is the only guaranteed cruelty-free animal product used in scent making. Unfortunately, it’s sporadic supply means that synthetic substitutes are now used in most modern conventional perfumes.
As you can imagine, here at Scene Green we are against the use of synthetic perfumes. In a recent study, the US Environmental Protection Agency has found that, out of a selection of conventional fragrances, 100% contained toluene, an organic volatile compound (organic in this sense just means that the the compound contains carbon). As VOC's evaporate they damage the environment by depleting ozone, and according to Greenpeace, the increase in VOCs in the atmosphere has led to a decline in reproductive function in both humans and wildlife. In addition, toluene is thought by some to be a possible carcinogen and it has been linked to long-term liver damage in studies.
Other potential perfume ingredients may include substances such as phenylmethyl acetic acid ester – a possible carcinogen, and chemicaldiethyl phthalate – one of a number of phthalates that may be included in synthetic fragrances. In studies, phthalates have been linked to reductions in semen quality in adult men, premature breast development in young girls and research also suggests that they may interfere with the sexual development of male foetuses. Other ingredients which may be cause for concern are synthetic musks, which are widespread environmental contaminants, having been found in lakes, rivers, sediment, soil etc. According to Friends of the Earth synthetic musks also 'bio-accumulate' (ie build up in the body) and although nobody is exactly sure what long term effect this will have on anyone exposed to them, laboratory tests indicate that they are carcinogenic and inhibit a naturally occurring enzyme system that guards cells against toxins.
For obvious reasons then, it would seem wise to steer clear of synthetic fragrances and in so doing, most conventional fragrances. Perfumes made entirely of natural ingredients are available and are usually a skilfully blended mix of essential oils in an alcohol base. And of course, we can go one step further and seek out natural fragrances made from organic essential oils derived from fairtrade sources, although we have yet to find any manufacturers that guarantee that all ingredients used are both organic and fairtrade.
Please be aware though, that a 'rose fragrance' is not the same as rose essential oil – it may simply be a synthetic perfume which smells like a rose. If you do come across fragrances which list the ingredients, it is worth taking the time to read them thoroughly!
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