I never realized just how badly scents affected me until I stopped using them. Through my research, I was shocked to find out what companies aren’t telling us when they list “fragrance” or “parfum” in their ingredient list. And changing my consumer habits has made a world of difference in my health.

My background with fragrance

As a child and teenager, I never gave a second thought to scented products. My home was full of them, in every household and body product we used. Scented products continued to be part of my adult life as well.

During this time, I was very prone to regular headaches and migraines, taking over-the-counter pain medications almost daily. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason as to why I got them. It was just a part of my life, and even though it wasn’t pleasant, it became the norm.

While I loved the idea of using natural products, I didn’t know where to start. Between university, starting my career, and buying a home, it simply wasn’t a priority. Especially when all my products seemingly worked well for me. Why would I look elsewhere?

When fragrance became a problem

It wasn’t until I was pregnant with my son and had extreme nausea and sickness for the first 30 weeks that I realized I couldn’t seem to escape scented products.

All the products I had been using were now repulsive to me. And they were everywhere. I shopped around for different scent options, but it only seemed to make things worse.

I couldn’t seem to escape these “nice” smells, and I ended up throwing out several products to keep from gagging and suffering from terrible headaches.

Then a question came to mind – was there such a thing as unscented products?

Finding relief with unscented products

Without any experience or knowledge of unscented products, I had to do some digging, but I did find a few options available.

My priority was to first find unscented shampoo and conditioner, as showering in my nauseous pregnant state was a painful sensory experience. I managed to find a couple of products available in our grocery store that was completely scent-free. What a relief. I also managed to find an unscented body moisturizer and laundry detergent.

The nausea in my pregnancy finally went away, but I decided to stick with the unscented products for a couple of reasons. First, I enjoyed them so much that there was no reason to switch back. Second, I noticed that my headaches had ceased, and I became more interested in natural products for myself and my new baby.

I did a lot of research to better understand what ingredients I should steer clear of when purchasing products. I was quite shocked by what I found.

Researching and learning about fragrance

I started to educate myself on products and fragrances by looking up blogs, listening to podcasts, and watching the documentary, Stink.

When I was out shopping, I looked up products through the Environmental Working Group to see how they ranked on their toxicity scales. It was very eye-opening.

As I continued to learn about different products and how to decipher which ones were truly natural, and which ones were marketing ploys, I learned about the ingredients, “fragrance” and “parfum”. I had no idea that these could be toxic ingredients.

Why “fragrance” or “parfum” is a problem

Through the Environmental Working Group, I found out that when “fragrance” is listed as an ingredient on a product’s label, it can be made from a combination of up to 3,600 chemicals. The FDA considers the chemicals used to create a fragrance a trade secret and does not require a company to disclose the actual list of chemicals used.

Unfortunately, these chemicals can include petroleum, phthalates linked to hormone disruption, and other toxic or hazardous compounds. These can be responsible for many different health conditions such as cancer, gynecological issues, and cosmetic contact dermatitis.

Anne Steinemann, Ph.D., from the University of Melbourne School of Engineering, published her findings that fragrances can lead to severe health conditions such as migraines and respiratory problems. It looked like I was having regular headaches and migraines for a reason.

Fragrance disappeared and so did my headaches

It was amazing to me that going fragrance-free got rid of my headaches.

I first realized this when I got a head cold and reached for the pain reliever. The bottle was expired. That’s when it hit me that I had not had a headache once since switching my products to fragrance-free.

Now that I am working remotely from home and don’t have any synthetic fragrances around me, I find that I can pick out scents very easily. It might be the smell of a store I walk into (many stores have their own scents created for them), someone walking past me with perfume or cologne, or certain aisles in the grocery store with scented products.

My nose will start to burn, and I will start to feel the onset of a headache. It’s a reminder every time of how much scents affect me.

Fragrance alternatives

My basic rule of thumb for buying products is that if “fragrance” or “parfum” is listed in the ingredients, I won’t buy it.

Now, I’ll admit, I kind of missed having a nice scent around now and then, so I also learned about what was safe to use as a fragrance alternative.

Searching online, I found brands that use high-quality essential oils for scent in their products, and I’ve purchased essential oils to add scent to homemade moisturizers and cleaning products. However, it’s important to note that not all oils are created equal. There are many synthetic and processed ones out there, so be sure to look up the brands selling them. With high-quality oils, I don’t get headaches.

I will also make simmer pots now and then, especially around the holidays when I want the house to smell like cinnamon and cloves.

These alternatives are safer for our health.

Wrapping it up

Companies and marketing ploys have convinced us that to be clean or fresh means you need scented products. But we need to remember that to be clean or fresh can mean there is no smell at all.

There is nothing better than when I open all the windows in my house and let the fresh air take over. The fact that I no longer need to take pain relievers for daily headaches is a testament to that.

It’s been life-changing, to say the least.