Hoosier Herbal Hippies

Hoosier Herbal Hippes - If we're not, we would love to be!! Share, learn and explore ideas on how to live a healthier green life. Posting is encouraged. Post locations that soothe your soul. Someone living in your area may need that boost. Share your tips and thoughts - actions that change a persons' world begins with a single thought.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

The difference between fragrance oil, "essense of" oils and essential oils

It has frustrated me for a long time that some makers of soaps and lotions will put "all natural" soap or lotion when they use a fragrance oil. Ok I give them credit that maybe the soap base or lotion base may be all natural but once you add a fragrance oil or "essense of" oil the product you are buying is NOT a all natural product. Fragrance oils can containup to 4,000 manmade chemicals. Chances are if you had a reaction to a product is most likely the fragrance oil added. I ran into this frustion at the Johnny Appleseed Festival (love that fest and go every year!) here in Fort Wayne today. Like many home business people I love to check out the competion. I learn a few things and so do they thru conversation. I wondered into a soap tent there today and was reviewing the ingredients on a homemade soap. I spyed a Honeysuckle soap that had essense of honeysuckle listed. I asked the person that made the soap where did they find a essense of honeysuckle when I hadn't been able to find any natural honeysuckle oils. What I was told was that they do put essential oils in the soaps but somethings can not be found such as the honeysuckle in a natural state. I stated "So you add a fragrance oil to this supposedly all natural soap" and the answer was "yes". I told them the label was very misleading - it is worded to make people think they are getting a all natural product when they really are not. The soapmaker replied - these people don't care about that. They just want something that smells good. When I asked what would they do if a person that has a fragrance allergy had a reaction their response was "Everybody is allergic to something"

It seems that it truly is the consumers responsibity to watch out for yourself. Questions to ask when buying a "natural product" is if there is a fragrance oil or essense of oil added. If it is a liquid lotion there has to be some type of preservative added. While a advocate all natural products as a intensive care nure I am also a realist. We do put a commerically produced preservative in the pump lotion because it does have water but it is the closest thing to natural and is what is used in the vaccines given for flu, pneumonia, etc. The difference is we point this out right away to prospective customers. We are all about education and safety. You will never find a fragrance oil in our products. The soaps, lotion bars and lip balms do not require a preservative as they do not have water in them.

No comments:

Post a Comment