Do Natural Fragrance Oils Exist?

The debate over the use of fragrance oils is never-ending. Understandably, a lot of consumers believe that fragrance oils are poisonous concoctions of petrochemicals. Over the years, having worked in several avenues of the chemical industry, I have noted there is a tremendous lack of understanding of even basic chemistry and the word “chemical” has been extruded to mean all things bad and evil.

Natural Fragrance Oils – Fact or Fiction?

We are big believers in Food Freedom movement. People have the right to choose their own food, the source and whether it is appropriate for them or not. The propaganda and beliefs that raw milk is unsafe is based on the results of poor sanitation. Clean milking procedures, rapid cold storage and healthy animals raised naturally negate the issues with raw milk. But the process for safe milk is much more costly in terms of time and effort. Pasteurizing milk is faster, easier and less expensive. People don’t realize that raw milk handled properly can be perfectly safe and the fear is propagated by milk lobbyists.

We believe the same situation exists with fragrance oils. For many years, fragrance oils were made with cheap ingredients, alcohols, and petroleum fractions. With so many technological advances in the world, why do people believe that fragrance oils are stuck in time? Ongoing research has enabled fragrance manufacturers have to delve deeper into finding and developing natural fragrance oils, which is what we use.

EVERYTHING has a basic chemical structure.

Some synthetics are fabulous…..like Lycra. Lycra enables fabric to stretch and flex all directions. Clothing is more comfortable as we age and fight the middle-age spread plus it will shrink to fit the athletic, the trim and fit.

What most people do not realize is that a large number of fragrance compounds, the molecular structure have been created to be nature-identical. In another words, the chemical structure is exactly the same as its organic natural sister. Nature-identical fragrance oils do not contain petrochemicals, alcohol, parabens, phthalates or formaldehydes.

When extracting an essential oil, you extract the entire compound. But you can also extract a single molecule, called an isolate. The molecule contains a fragrance or scent that is “isolated” from the plant. This is another type of fragrance oil that is available for use in products. The number of isolate manufacturers is increasing, but sourcing takes time. (just like raw milk).

Determining which to use in which situation means understanding their origin and looking carefully at the ingredients you use. But this takes time and effort that many people will not invest. It is easier to vilify fragrance oils and continue to spread the notion that they are all from petroleum products when that simply is not true.

It is a difficult belief to change. We are happy to challenge the status quo. We use both nature-identical and isolate fragrance oils, but we do not use petroleum products. We ask questions of our fragrance manufacturers and source natural and nature based oils. We discontinue scents that do not meet those standards.

Lastly, while we LOVE essential oils, sought certification and are increasing our offerings, we have customers who are highly sensitized to essential oils and cannot use products that contain them. They can’t use them because they conflict with a person’s body chemistry and cause skin reactions. These people are doomed to the world of unscented products. Scents give joy, have an emotional component and contribute massively to the enjoyment of life. Were it not for nature-identical and isolates, these people would not experience “freedom of choice”.

Essential oils are CHEMICAL compounds, just like fragrance oils.

Often it is not what the compound is, but how much is present. Methyl paraben is a naturally occurring compound and is found in the chemical analysis of blueberries! No, don’t swear off eating blueberries. Insects pollinate plants. Methyl Paraben is a pheromone in the insect world. Micro-amounts are found in fruit and are completely harmless.

We are happy to offer skin-safe fragrance oils from natural sources.

We periodically review our oils and will drop and add oils based on their origin and make-up. We dropped Baby Powder because we could not find it in desired form. Every human is composed of different chemicals. Our goal is to match you with products that are healthy, non-reactive, soothing, and nourishing. We can’t guarantee no one will ever have a reaction, but we will work to help you find what you can use and find benefits from.

We welcome any opportunity to dispel the myths and help people understand natural “chemicals”. Chemistry isn’t a bad word. Fear mongering without the requisite knowledge and education is unethical. So do your own research, ask questions and go to multiple sources and seek objective evidence. Don’t rely on all vendors to tell you the truth; the cosmetic world is full of unsubstantiated claims. Your skin and health are worth the extra effort……just like raw milk. (Sorry, can’t resist, we love it)!