We all adore the beautiful and fresh smelling atmosphere that perfumes and fragrances create around us.
But perfumes and fragrances that we use daily for the pleasant smell that they offer are often a combination of harmful chemicals.
These chemicals can lead to several health issues when they are applied to our skin.
Perfumes have been around for over a thousand years now. It was first mentioned in Egyptian hieroglyphics at around 3,000 BC.
It gradually made its way to Europe around the 14th century and was popularly accepted by the royal people there.
These ancient perfumes were made by extracting the scent from flowers and other such aromatics and mixed with oil to apply on the human body to mask body odor.
In the late 19th century, the story of perfumes started to change.
The chemists started making synthetic versions of the perfumes by isolating compounds from aromatic oils as that helped the perfumes to last much longer.
The perfumes that we use today are usually synthetic in nature and are a mixture of chemicals that can be harmful in the long term.
There are rarely any perfumes or fragrances that are made from all natural ingredients.
Modern Perfumes and Fragrances
Today with the advancement in science, humans have found ways to make perfumes and fragrances with low-quality ingredients that would also last longer and cost less.
The modern-day perfumes and fragrances are filled with chemicals.
Companies tend to mix harmful chemicals that might be untested as well into the perfumes they make.
The fact that companies do not let out the secret behind the fragrances that they make give them all the freedom to pour in chemicals that might not be necessary for the fragrances even.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) once tested the chemicals found in several popularly used perfumes and revealed that over 14 unlisted chemicals were found in each perfume, where some of these chemicals are also known to be allergens or hormone disrupters.
The manufacturers of several popular companies use over 3,000 ingredients in varying combinations to create the pleasant smell that attracts customers.
Most of these chemicals are synthetic petrochemicals that are very harmful to the body.
Symptoms of sensitivity to perfumes
There are a lot of individuals who are sensitive to perfumes and other fragrances.
They experience certain symptoms of perfume or fragrance sensitivity and a study has also found that most individuals cannot be around the fragrances without affecting their health.
The symptoms of fragrance or perfume sensitivity that are caused by the synthetic and harmful chemicals used in them are:
- Cognitive issues
- Gastrointestinal issues
- Skin diseases
- Allergic reactions
- Headache from migraine
- Defective birth problems
- Mucosal symptoms
There are more to this list of symptoms that are highly problematic in an individual’s life when he/she gets affected by them.
To avoid experiencing the symptoms one needs to prevent themselves from using the perfumes or fragrances that contain harsh chemicals.
About unscented products
People might wonder that the disadvantages of using scented products can be prevented by using unscented products.
But that is not the case as unscented products are not safer than scented ones.
They only have chemicals that cover up the smell of the chemicals which produce the fragrance like floral and more that we look for in scented products.
Unscented products come with a light fragrance rather than the strong pleasant smell.
No matter how many ingredients are used for making the conventional perfumes, it is almost the same thing because everything used is synthetic and harmful for people who use it.
How to avoid problems with perfumes and fragrances?
To avoid the problems that you might have to face due to the harsh chemicals you use in the form of perfumes and fragrances, there are alternatives to these synthetic chemical-laden perfumes and fragrances.
Here is a list of natural alternatives that every individual can try as a safe alternative:
Homemade Air Fresheners
Try making homemade air fresheners with essential oils that are natural and also have properties that are beneficial for maintaining good health.
For example, lemon can be used for the purpose as it has antibacterial and antiviral properties that work great for lifting the mood.
Ginger can help by stimulating the mind and help with depression too.
Essential oils from sweet orange have anti-fungal properties and also act as a great mood-lifter.
Homemade perfumes
There are several ways that one can take up to blend natural ingredients and make perfumes from organic things like lemon and more.
The essential oils extracted from flowers and more natural substances can be used for making perfumes at home that would be soothing to the skin and have health benefits.
Essential oils
One of the most important ingredients in the homemade perfumes and fragrances are the essential oils.
They are completely natural and give you the pleasant feeling that most synthetic perfumes will fail to deliver.
The soothing experience of using a few drops of essential oils to a teaspoon of carrier oil is healthy and causes no symptoms of sensitivity to them when used.
Essential oils can also be diffused and used in rooms to add a beautiful fragrance to the room without having to do it with any synthetic perfume sprays.
Using child friendly essential oils is the best to make sure everyone is safe and benefits from the natural oils.
Conclusion
The modern-day perfumes and fragrances contain a lot of synthetic chemicals.
These might deliver beautiful fragrance smells for a long-lasting period but would lead to several diseases and side-effects in the long term.
To avoid experiencing the horrible problems of using synthetic chemical-laden perfumes and fragrances, we all must resort to natural products that can be easily made at homes with organic substances all by ourselves.
These products would be much safer and beneficial to our health as well.
When people start using the natural scents, they have reported having liked that more than the synthetic ones.
Overcome the problems of perfumes and fragrances successfully with the best alternatives today.
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