Get a whiff of this.

84% of the ingredients contained in synthetic fragrances have never been tested nor approved for human safety.1

Once upon a time … fragrances were made from the essential oils distilled from flowers, fruits and other plants … naturally!
Today, the majority of fragrances are synthetic and petroleum-based.
Countless products include fragrance - to name a few: lotions, shaving creams, shampoos, deodorants, cosmetics, laundry detergents, and air fresheners.
A single “fragrance” usually contains many ingredients – as few as 10 or as many as several hundred. Very little is known about how these ingredients interact with each other.2
Fragrances are absorbed through our skin or inhaled as vapors. (We nose that!)
Many ingredients in fragrances may have negative effects on our bodies and the environment.
There are minimal government regulations. Fragrance compositions do not have to be fully listed on a label.

Read the label … Mabel. - We've said it before and we'll say it again and again.

Check label for known irritants: including d-limonene, ethanol, campor and phthalates.
“Parfum” and “Aroma” are interchangeably used to represent groups of ingredients that make fragrance formulas.

"Unscented" or “fragrance-free" claims on packaging may not be true. They could contain masking fragrances that give off a neutral odor. Nice.
Products truly free of fragrance will not include the word "fragrance” on label.
GO EASY on the perfume, cologne and other strongly scented products.
Try natural fragrances that are created using naturated alcohol and essential oils and may be diluted in carrier oil such as jojoba or almond. Scented waters are another non-toxic alternative.
Note: With any scent, there is always the possibility of a reaction.

Tamey has never been a strong fan of heavy scents and Patti's nose is not “fragrant friendly” – either natural or synthetic – as too much of a good thing is not a good thing.
As we have started to switch our personal and household products over, we are paying more attention to “fragrance” listed as an ingredient. We look for more natural formulations with essential oils.
Any products we review that are fragrance-free will be identified by a . For an example, look at this Product Review.
We stumbled across a new product hot off the line scented with only essential oils by Simple Organic Scent. We will test them and let you know what our finicky noses say.
Check out the Skin Deep website for fragrance-free products.

P.S. Hello to all our new subscribers who read about Pure Know How in the Ottawa Citizen and Ottawa Magazine.

1/2 Erickson, Kim. Drop-Dead Gorgeous, 2002.