Perfumes in creams: good or bad?
Each of us has purchased body creams at least once in our life: regardless of any problems, it is our taste that guides us in the choice. Like, for example, for the fragrance. But are perfumes in creams good or bad?
Memories enclosed in perfumes
There are significant advantages in adding a fragrance to a cream.
We are attracted to what we like and for this reason, when buying, we tend to choose products that have a fragrance that we love.
Accompanying a cream with different perfumes certainly decrees greater sales for the brand and greater happiness for the consumer.
In fact, as Marcel Proust says in his famous work "In search of lost time":
“A delicious pleasure had invaded me, isolated, with no notion of cause. And immediately, the vicissitudes made me indifferent, the setbacks harmless, the brevity of life illusory ... I no longer felt mediocre, contingent, mortal. "
A fragrance is capable of unleashing in us memories that have remained crystallized in our memory for many years and bring us back to joyful moments of our existence, pleasant memories and feelings of safety and well-being.
Furthermore, there is also a more practical reason why many creams contain perfumes: each cosmetic ingredient has an odor that is often not pleasant and therefore a fragrance is added to mask their bad smell.
Allergens and other substances contained in the scents of creams
Unfortunately, however, there are also several dangers that concern the scents in creams.
Almost all of the perfumes, and therefore also the fragrances of creams, contains in whole or in part synthetic substances, especially phthalates: they are obtained from mothballs, in turn deriving from petroleum.
Furthermore, some fragrances can cause irritation and allergies such as irritating contact dermatitis and allergic contact dermatitis. For some people, it can also cause eye, nose, and throat irritation.
It is not always easy to identify the exact ingredient that causes irritation: a perfume can contain from 75 to more than 100 ingredients and, since their formulation is considered "trade secret" to avoid plagiarism, cosmetic companies are not required to list them all on the packaging.
However, they are required to list at least those 26 that most commonly cause allergic reactions. Here's the list:
Amyl cinnamal
Benzyl alcohol
Cinnamyl alcohol
Citral
Eugenol
Hydroxy-citronellal
Isoeugenol
Amylcin-namyl alcohol
Benzyl salicylate
Cinnamal
Coumarin
Geraniol
Hydroxy-methylpentylcyclohexenecarboxaldehyd
Anisyl alcohol
Benzyl cinnamate
Farnesol
2-(4-tert-Butylbenzyl) propionald-hyd
Linalool
Benzyl benzoate
Citronellol
Hexyl cinnam-aldehyd
d-Limonene
Methyl heptin carbonate
3-Methyl-4-(2,6,6-tri-methyl-2-cyclohexen-1-yl)-3-buten-2-one
Oak moss and treemoss extract
Treemoss extract
Thankfully, the ingredients that make up perfumes are used in such tiny quantities that the chance of them causing a negative reaction in people is very low. Only those who are allergic to one of these ingredients, or have very sensitive skin, should carefully avoid perfumed cosmetics.
In fact, those who suffer from particular dermatitis problems will necessarily have to turn to selected products of 100% ecological biocosmetics. In this case, it will be easier to find plant essences within the perfumes in the creams.
They are extracted from flowers, leaves, fruits, berries, wood or roots and the distillation process can take place with alcohol, with heat or through the technique ofenfleurage, placing the petals on a layer of fat that slowly absorbs the smell and is then distilled.
In the end, it is the consumer who chooses the product that best meets their needs.
If a certain fragrance within a cream causes skin discomfort, there are several fragrance-free alternatives of excellent quality that avoid any problem.
If, on the other hand, you are not predisposed to any allergies, but on the contrary the fragrance relaxes and improves the experience of the product, then you can use creams containing perfumes in a completely safe way.
