Written by
Dr. Mike Thair
Co-founder
& Managing Director
IndochineNatural Sdn Bhd
As
manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers cash in on the “all-natural” and
“organic” trend these days we start to see the blurring of lines between what
are truly natural plant derived natural ingredients and those that are strictly
synthetic.
What are essential
oils?
Essential
oils are all-natural botanical extracts of various plant
materials, including flowers, herbs, trees and other types of plant materials. These
oils are described as "essential" because they represent a distinctive
scent, or essence, of a particular plant.
The oils are extracted by various methods including
distillation, or cold pressed methods, which is one of the best methods to
extract essential oils.
If you read cosmetic labels you can easily recognize that
essential oils are included in the ingredients as the botanical names are used.
For example, with our Indochine Natural Tropical Flower shampoo the essential
oil ingredients are:
Piper nigrum
(Black Pepper) oil, Salvia sclarea
(Clary Sage) oil, Eugenian caryophyllata
(Clove) bud oil, Cananga odorata (Ylang
Ylang) flower oil.
What are fragrance
oils?
Fragrance oils
are also known as aroma oils or aromatic oils. These are blends of synthetic
aroma compounds diluted in a carrier, for example mineral oil, vegetable oil of
other substances such as propylene glycol. These synthetically
manufactured chemicals are designed to "mimic" the aroma of natural
materials such as essential oils. The motivation here is that these synthetic
fragrances are a lot cheaper to produce than the all-natural essential oils.
It is important to know that fragrance oils are in no way
"natural", and that 95% of the chemicals found in these oils are
synthetic compounds, generally derived from petroleum and include a wide range
of chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects, and various central nervous
system disorders.
It is quite
common these days to see fragrance oils marketed as
being “natural,” and what is even more surprising is that even unscented and
fragrance-free products can contain synthetic masking scents to
"mask" the smell of other ingredients. Even
ingredients that are registered as “organic” can contain synthetic
masking scents and these are generally not included in product ingredients
list.
Even more shocking is that globally there is minimal
government regulation and monitoring on the safety of these synthetic fragrance
oils, and most have not been tested individually or in combination for their
effects on human health. Additionally, these synthetic fragrance chemicals do
not have to be listed on the product label, all that the manufacturer is
required to list is the word “Parfum “ of “Fragrance,” there is no need to list
the actually synthetic chemicals included in the product fragrance. Trade
secret laws keep toxicity testing and ingredient identification from being
accurately disclosed, and this is in an industry that is largely
self-regulating.
What should consumers be looking for?
As always,
study ingredient labels of your cosmetics and body care products very
carefully. Here is what to look for:
· If you see the word Parfum,
Fragrance or something similar, then
the product contains synthetic fragrances. Under the cosmetics laws the
manufacturer does not need to declare what synthetic ingredients are used to
create a fragrance, therefore the consumer has no idea what synthetic chemicals
they are exposing themselves to.
· Similarly, avoid products using
ingredient descriptions such as aroma oils or aromatic oils.
· Products using all-natural essential
oils will generally list the fragrances using botanical names (usually Latin
names) for example Cananga odorata (Ylang
Ylang) flower oil.
Unfortunately it is common these
days to see unscrupulous manufactures using botanical names to list synthetic
ingredients in their products.
Indochine Natural products are
available in Malaysia through JustLife stores
Or locally & internationally online
WE WELCOME WHOLESALE INQUIRIES - contact Dr. Mike Thair
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