By far the most common question we get is why we won’t put any added fragrance into our products. Alot of people, understandly, find skincare that isn't strongly scented unusual.
The answer is more complex than most people realise. It isn’t because we think the natural fragrance of the food-grade ingredients we use are already wonderful enough or, in the case of our baby range, that the natural scent of baby’s skin is possibly the most incredible smell of all :)
Answer: It is very simply a matter of health and safety.
Here's why:
1: Synthetic and natural fragrances have been shown to release chemicals with harmful side-effects. When you use a fragranced product, that fragrance comes either from a synthetic petrochemical source (yikes!) or from a significant dose of essential oils, both of which are things to avoid when it comes to skin, especially sensitive, newborn or baby skin. That’s because both synthetic and natural fragrances have been shown to release chemicals with harmful side-effects on the immune system and the body. Synthetic fragrances are composed of a mix of chemicals, mostly derived from petrochemicals, and many of those chemicals have well documented carcinogenic and other toxic side-effects.
2: Essential oils (often used as natural fragrance) are extremely potent. They were originally used in several cultures as medicines! So when it comes to using them, especially around pregnant and breastfeeding mums and babies, knowing the safest type, dosage and grade of essential oil is absolutely vital. Unfortunately, in many skincare products they’re used in high concentrations for their fragrance which can have disturbing side-effects - especially on babies. For example, overuse of some essential oils has been shown to affect the hormones of baby boys, leading to physical side-effects.
3: Last but not least, fragrance is the number one cause of allergic reactions in skincare. So when they’re used in skincare which goes all over your and your little one’s largest organ, we think less is best, which is why we never use any ingredient for its fragrance. All Nanna’s recipes use only the smallest number of ingredients which are suited to newborn and delicate skin, and only in just the right amounts. So just like smelling baby’s incredible natural scent, you can take a deep breath when it comes to our handcrafted range :)
Further reading:
Skincare’s backlash against Essential Oils - The New York Times
https://mobile.nytimes.com/
The serious health issues linked to fragrance - The Canberra Times
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
http://www.abc.net.au/news/
https://www.ewg.org/research/
http://www.safecosmetics.org/
https://www.theage.com.au/
http://www.toxicsinfo.org/
https://www.webmd.com/