Whether or Not to Use Fragrance Skin Care


These days, almost all brand-name skin care products have added fragrances and preservatives that make them more appealing to the consumer. Products that dont have the additives generally smell like the components that make them, which is usually not as pleasant as a sweet floral scent. However, the additives in these fragrance skin care products are also widely considered to be the cause of many allergic reactions to various skin care products. Here are a few pros and cons to using fragrance skin care products as part of your regular skin care regimen.

The Pros

Well, it smells good. You can be sure that the active ingredients in most skin care products do not produce the greatest smells in the world. Fragrance skin care products offer an alternative to walking around with some sort of medicinal stink on you. Hopefully youll smell more like a rose garden than an old-folks home. You wont meet many new friends smelling like a visit to their grandmother.

There are also plenty of choices on the market, and chances are that not all products will cause the same reaction to an individual. Different fragrance skin care products might contain exactly the same active ingredients but very different additive ingredients. Pay attention to the ingredients listed on the packaging. If you use a product that causes an allergic reaction, make sure you do your best not to purchase other products that might have the same allergy-causing ingredient.

The Cons

Well, the allergic reactions. When youre using skin care products your goal is probably to improve the condition of your skin. Not only are allergic reactions uncomfortable, they also are the exact opposite of the intended effect. If youre using a fragrance skin care product that causes you allergic reactions, you might as well not be using any skin care product at all.

Furthermore, the competitive nature of the skin care market can make it difficult to discern which products might be safe to use and which ones might not. In her 1999 article in a widely circulated journal on dermatology, Pamela Scheinnman states that hypoallergenic, dermatologist tested, sensitive skin, or dermatologist recommended are nothing more than meaningless marketing slogans." Many companies also use clever wording to cover up certain ingredients in their product, calling them things like lemon oils or plant oils instead of what they really are, fragrances.

There may not seem to be many alternatives to fragrance skin care on the market these days, but you may want think twice before purchasing what is readily available to you. It may be the difference between clear, healthy skin and blotchy skin.