Easy Peasy You
Don't be fooled: seductively scented cosmetics with essential oils damage your skin
Posted by Lara Schimweg on
Fragrances irritate the skin
Essential oils are among the fragrances
Essential oils can trigger new allergies
Fragrances in cosmetic products have one main goal: to sell more. We like floral scents and are therefore easily seduced by fragrant creams and shower gels. Neutral-smelling products, on the other hand, seem boring.
Unfortunately, fragrances are irritating to the skin. But what about natural fragrances? Natural cosmetics , but also conventional products, often contain essential oils - the natural fragrances. Unfortunately, however, they can trigger allergies, irritate the skin and make it sensitive. Especially if you have sensitive skin, you should therefore completely avoid essential oils in cosmetics.
Switching to natural cosmetics: 4 steps to your natural cosmetics for sensitive skin
Essential oils are not necessary for the skin. They have no positive effect on your skin. Essential oils are mostly used in cosmetic products as a replacement for synthetic fragrances or for preservation. Essential oils are sometimes mistakenly attributed a certain effect. However, apart from the disinfectant properties and the scent mentioned above, there are no other positive effects. Essential oils are extracted from plants. That actually sounds good. Plants have to protect themselves from other living things. For example, fly agaric and foxglove have their own poison. Other plants use essential oils to protect themselves from enemies. Fortunately, essential oils do not kill us humans. Nevertheless, they can damage our skin in various ways.
Essential oils are often confused with the effective plant extracts. These can really protect your skin. They have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory or soothing effects.
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Sometimes you hear that if plants protect themselves in this way, it would also protect our skin. A nice analogy, but we humans are not plants. Therefore, essential oils tend to have an irritating effect on us. They are unstable and break down when they come into contact with sunlight and air. Together with air and sunlight, essential oils trigger stress in your skin. To be more precise: oxidative stress. Free radicals are created. And our skin doesn't like that at all. On the contrary: we protect ourselves against free radicals in everyday life with healthy, vitamin-rich foods and exercise. Blueberries, for example, are really delicious and protect you from oxidative stress. Or how about a little workout in the morning. Do you love the beautiful scent? How about spraying the natural scent into your hair rather than hair perfume? It won't harm your skin. Essential oils in the form of spray or steam are also used for relaxation in aromatherapy. Please note, however, that essential oils can irritate the lungs. If you generally have an allergic reaction that causes shortness of breath, yoga or other mindfulness exercises are more likely to help you relax.
And how do you know if essential oils or other fragrances are contained in a product?
We have created an alphabetical list of the most common names for fragrances. The fragrances and essential oils appear under these names in the list of ingredients that you can find on every cosmetic product under Ingredients or INCI. This way, the next time you go shopping, you know which ingredients you can avoid for the sake of your skin.
List: Essential Oils and Other Fragrances
- Amyl Cinnamal
- Amyl Cinnamyl Alcohol
- Anise Alcohol
- Balsam of Peru (myroxylon pereirae)
- Benzyl Alcohol
- Benzyl Benzoate
- Benzyl Cinnamate
- Benzyl Salicylate
- Buthylphenyl Methylpropaniol
- Cassia oil
- Cloves
- Cinamyl Alcohol
- Cinnamic aldehyde
- Cinnamon
- Citral
- Citrus
- citronellol
- citronella
- Cinnamal
- coumarin
- Ethylene bassylate
- Eugenol
- Evernia Prunastri Extract
- Evernia Furfuracea Extract
- Farnesol
- geraniol
- Heexy Cinnamal
- Hydroxycitronellal
- Hydroxyisohexyl 3- Cyclohexane Carboxaldehyde
- isoeugenol
- Lavender
- Lemon peel
- linalool
- limonene
- Methyl 2-Octynoate
- Oak moss absolute
- Oil of Bergamot
- Perfume
- Phenethyl Alcohol
- Sweet Basil
- Sweet Orange
And be careful with floral waters. These often contain essential oils that occur naturally in hydrosols. They are therefore not listed in the list of ingredients on the product. If you want to play it safe for the sake of your skin, it is better not to use rose water or similar waters that smell of flowers .
All-rounder or myth: Is rose water good for the skin?
Summarized for you
- All types of fragrances can irritate the skin
- Essential oils are natural fragrances
- Fragrances can trigger contact allergies
- If asthmatics or allergy sufferers inhale fragrances, this can lead to breathing difficulties
- Essential oils are the plant’s natural protection against other living beings
- Essential oils trigger stress in your skin
Do you avoid fragrances or can't live without the pleasant scent? Let us know in the comments.
Lara Schimweg
Lara is the founder of Xeno and develops the skin care products. She studied sports science and health research and is a qualified health and nursing professional. Lara mixed her first cream 20 years ago and is involved with skin care and ingredients . Lara has rosacea and very sensitive skin.
- Tags: Allergie, Hautpflege, Inhaltsstoffe, Naturkosmetik, Rosacea
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