10 Reasons to Avoid Toxic Perfume and Cologne

Here are some of the reasons why you want to walk fast past the perfume counter at the department store and let your friends know their stink is toxic:

1. Fragrance can mean a cocktail of up to 3,000 different ingredients and most have NOT been tested for safety.

2. Many of these unlisted ingredients are irritants and can trigger allergies (runny nose, watery eyes, itching skin), migraines, and asthma symptoms.

3. Perfumes/colognes can trigger an asthma attack in 3 out of every 4 people.

4. In lab experiments, individual fragrance ingredients have been associated with cancer and neurotoxicity.

5. Environment Canada has stated serious concern with the bioaccumulative effect of synthetic musks which are toxic to both aquatic life (they settle in the fatty tissues) and human health.

Some fragrance ingredients are not even perfuming agents themselves but enhance the performance of perfume itself, which was the reason for the stink lingering in my parking garage.

Such as:

Diethyl phthalate, or DEP, is widely used in cosmetic fragrances for it’s lingering effect. Phthalates are cheap and versatile and used in most of the popular big selling fragrances.

phthalates are dangerous to human health because they:

6. Interfere with hormone function, as per evidence from the European Commission on Endocrine Disruption7. Linked to early puberty in girls.

7. Reduced sperm count in men, and reproductive defects in the developing male fetus (when the mother is exposed during pregnancy).

8. Associated with obesity and insulin resistance in men.

9. As well, Health Canada notes evidence suggesting that exposure to phthalates may cause liver and kidney failure in young children when products containing phthalates are sucked or chewed for extended periods.

10. DEP is listed as a Priority and Toxic Pollutant under the U.S. Clean Water Act, based on evidence that it can be toxic to wildlife and the environment.

So you want to smell nice without a toxic cloud of fragrance? Here are some suggestions:

1. Buy an essential oil (your favorite scent from the health food store) and dilute it with a carrier oil, like almond oil. Make sure the essential oil is clean.

2. Slather coconut oil on your beautiful body after you shower. You will smell like the beach!

3. Go completely fragrance free and let your natural scent (ie. pheromones) attract others to you.

Pheromones actually have a biological purpose — to attract the opposite sex!