As a perfume lover, you must wonder if there is a way to enjoy spraying every day without the risk of exposing your body to chemicals every day. But here’s the truth:
No, perfumes cannot be made without chemicals, because perfumes or any form of fragrance, whether natural or synthetic, are chemicals. These chemicals can be either nature-based or man-made. However, if you are wondering if perfumes can be made without synthetic chemicals, then the answer is ‘yes’.
The perfume industry gathers and extracts chemicals from nature in the form of essential oils, and uses them for their aroma. The same can also be created in a laboratory, which is known as synthetics.
Let’s discuss more why nature creates perfumed chemicals, why we use synthetic chemicals in perfumes and the safety of both natural and synthetic chemicals.
Why Nature Creates Perfumed Chemicals?
Whether it is by birds, animals or plants, chemicals in nature are either created for communication or as a defence mechanism. Since any living organism, which produces odorous chemicals must spend energy and material from its body, they only do it for their survival.
When cells of our body, or any other living organism, communicate between themselves, they create chemicals called hormones, and when cells of our body communicate with different organisms, the chemicals are called semiochemicals. At the same time, if two organisms of the same species communicate, the chemicals are called pheromones.
Chemicals that have messages sent from one species to another are called allelochemicals – which are produced by the plants and are odorous to attract insects for pollination. And this is how we get flower oil.
Chemicals that are produced in response to an injury to the body, create a defensive barrier, and then prevent the wound from getting infected by fungi are defence chemicals. This is where we get woody and balsamic scents.
Sometimes the chemicals created are volatile in nature and may contain antifungal and antibacterial properties since they try to defend themselves against both fungi and bacteria.
Why Does The Industry Use Synthetic Chemicals?
It is quite logical to wonder that if nature already gives us what we want, i.e., essential oils for perfume creation, why does the perfume industry create and use synthetics?
There are many reasons why synthetics are created in place of natural essential oils, and the cost is not the only reason.
- Cost
Let’s discuss the most common reason first – which is cost.
Without a doubt, essential oils can be expensive. A large volume of flowers or plant parts gives us only a small amount of essential oil. While many of these flowers can work with mechanical harvesting, jasmine flowers must be hand-picked, which requires a high amount of labour cost – even when it comes to countries like India and China with cheap labour.
We must also consider that certain plants, for example, patchouli, are only found and grow in some parts of the world – and these parts are sometimes affected by floods, earthquakes, drought, or any other natural disaster. So, the production of essential oil is not just expensive but also unstable.
- Stability and longevity
Essential oils may be suitable for perfumes, but the fragrance industry requires them to have more stability when it comes to using them with other consumer goods like soaps and detergents.
Even in fine fragrances, or perfumes, the longevity of natural essences was short when perfumes used only naturals and had to be reapplied often, which again impacted the demand for natural essences more often.
- Safety
The safety of perfumes on the skin has been a concern for the industry and for those who like to wear fragrances, but these concerns were mostly associated with essential oils, as in natural ingredients, and not synthetic.
- Sustainability and ethics
Natural ingredients are not just expensive to people but also come with a cost to the environment and wildlife. For example, musk is one of the ingredients that requires endangering the life of a deer for natural musk. However, creating a synthetic counterpart will be more ethical and sustainable.
Are Natural Perfumes Better and Safe?
While natural ingredients or essential oils are not always safe, your perfume with natural ingredients and bought from a renowned brand is likely to be safe because government agencies and the International Fragrance Association(IFRA) have already banned 26 suspected allergens, 18 of which were natural ingredients found in essential oils.
So when it comes to safety and toxicity, both synthetic and natural can have harmful chemicals, but you are mostly on the safer side while buying from houses and brands that follow these guidelines.
Perfumes Without Synthetic Chemicals
There are still perfumes without synthetic chemicals, with all natural essences but these are restricted to precious floral scents which are not easy to replicate with synthetic chemicals. But if you are looking for a more complicated natural fragrance with notes like musk, ambergris, leather, civet, etc., then you are in tough luck because most of these are created synthetically for the reasons mentioned above.
Organic Perfumes
There are indeed perfumes that are created with 100% natural ingredients. Some step-by-step will even help you create your own natural fragrance. While these fragrances won’t be as long-lasting, you can always enjoy a natural scent.
