What is meant by Unscented, Fragrance Free, Scent Free and more?

by Penny Keay

From time to time we are asked - What does it mean to be unscented, fragrance free, no scent added, scent free, no fragrance added, hypoallergenic, natural and on and on?

There are no absolute definitions set by the FDA (Food & Drug Administration).

As found on their page https://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-safe.html about half way down the page -

In the section labeled - "The Meaning of Makeup"

You will find the definition they give

* fragrance-free products so labeled may still contain small amounts of fragrances to mask the fatty odor of soap or other unpleasant odors

* hypoallergenic cosmetics that are less likely to cause allergic reactions

* natural ingredients extracted directly from plants or animal products as opposed to being produced synthetically but at the end of that section is the following statement:

(* There are no official, government definitions for these terms.)

They do not mention any other of the words people use to say "something has no smell".

I try to explain to people that when you think of water. Even Water, normally, should not have smell. But even water has a smell.

Every substance on earth has a smell. Even our unscented products may have a slight smell.

What we can tell you is that we add no fragrance, no scents or anything to these products, nor does the manufacturer.

Did you know that when a product is labeled fragrance free it can have chemicals added to removed other odors? But it can be labeled fragrance free!

Many of Our products are Additive Free. Which means neither the manufacturer or us have added anything to the base product.

They are made from the naturally based ingredients listed on the labels.

Do they have an odor?

Yes, they can. Although minimum. Remember again everything can have an odor, be it ever so slight.

Some folks tell us they can smell something but can't describe it.

You must realize that the INGREDIENTS to make products DO have an odor. But it is the ingredient that has the odor. Nothing else.

We wonder, are they smelling the plastic bottle? As plastic does have an odor. Are they smelling their own body, mouth or nasal odors? We certainly don't know.

We do know, we keep all our unscented products separated, in a different room altogether, than our essential oils. We also are very strict when it comes to handling these products.

We are constantly washing our hands to remove any signs of odor from us too.

We use our own unscented Liquid hand soap to make sure we don't contaminate anyone's order with any type of scent.

No one knows for sure what their nose may be able to differentiate or detect. Some folks can detect extremely small amounts of scents while others could stand next to a skunk that has sprayed and not even smell anything.

Hope this has helped some to understand the meaning of the words unscented, scent free, and fragrance free.

Rest assured our unscented base products have no scents added, no chemicals added to hide any detectable scents.

They are made of all natural products that have no odor, or extremely low odor.

Might you smell something? It depends on how sensitive your nose is. Most people smell nothing. Others may smell a slight odor of the plastic bottle.

Others have said they can differentiate between the products but then again remember even ingredients can have an odor. It doesn't mean our products aren't scent free.

Remember we have added nothing to them nor has the manufacturer.

Some people have sensitive enough noses they can detect even the differences in the ingredients.

IMPORTANT - Please, If you have an extremely sensitive sense of Smell. Visit this page https://birchhillhappenings.com/sensitive.htm

To give you an idea. We sell Almond oil, Sunflower oil and Fractionated Coconut oil These oils are virtually odor free. Yet we can smell an extremely small difference in their scent if we try.

They are unscented, scent free and fragrance free. They have no odor. Yet we can tell they are slightly different when we take a little whiff of them.

The fractionated coconut oil has the hardest odor to detect. Also this is what many of the unscented base products use as a base oil to make those products.

So since the products are derived from coconut oil the products made from it's components are virtually odor free also.

As for Hypo Allergenic

Every substance on earth can be a potential allergen. Everyones chemical makeup is different and anything could cause someone to have an allergic reaction.

Some substances are common allergens. Meaning more than likely if you took a crowd of 100 people you would find that anywhere from 1 to 25% or more could have some type of reaction.

So the term Hypoallergenic, means that the majority of people have not had and should not have an allergic reaction to the ingredients in that product.

Could you? Maybe, if you have a rare allergy but the majority of people probably won't.

Natural

Well, Natural means it comes from plants and plant derived sources. Again, it doesn't necessarily mean that the whole product is from naturally derived products unless the manufacturer states it on the label that it is 100% Natural.

It could just say it is natural and that the product can have other - man-made products in it and still be considered natural. (See the FDA meaning and see their website above. )

Multiple Chemically Sensitive People:

It has been reported to us by several of our MCS and fragrance sensitive customers, that they are able to use these unscented products.

Especially those who have extreme sensitivity to chemicals and artificial fragrances that irritate the skin, and respiratory systems.

They have been wonderful for them.

So if you have been having a hard time finding something to use because of your sensitivities - you might want to give these products a try.

Another Important note: The products themselves are unscented.

And we do keep all of our essential oils away from our shipping materials. BUT, if you are extremely sensitive - Please note that you could have a reaction to the box and packing peanuts inside.

Essential oils can sometimes be absorbed by the packaging materials, even though we are very careful about this.

All packing peanuts and boxes have their own smell too.

If you do find you are sensitive to the packaging, Remove the product bottles from the packaging material and let the product air out for a couple days.

If there still seems to be a problem, contact us.

In Conclusion

Hope our page has helped you to understand that our products have been manufactured (not by us) using natural, no fragrance added (additive free), and are unscented (we don't add anything to them either).

Although they may have a slight odor, nothing has been added to these products to disguise or hide odors.

What you might smell is the natural ingredients used to make these products. Again, they are virtually scent free.

We have had reports from many, many sensitive people that have not been able to use any other product but who can use our products.

Please order small quantities (2 oz) if you think you could be sensitive.

All Unscented base products are not returnable and are not refundable.

All the products listed in the article are available at our Shopping Site - see link below.

©2005, 2015, 2017 Penny Keay All rights reserved Worldwide.
Please do not use my information without my permission.

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