What’s So Bad About Perfumes?

I came across an article recently that reviewed the literature on the negative health effects of perfumes.

I’d been meaning to wade into the topic for a while, having long suspected that we might have good reason to avoid synthetic fragrances. I drastically reduced my use of aftershaves years ago (opting only to spray a little on my clothes when I do use them) and quickly noticed how uncomfortable I felt and how prone to headaches I seemed to be whenever I found myself in a highly perfumed environment or spent even a little time in close proximity to someone drenched in the stuff. I don’t know what explains this exactly; I must’ve developed some level of sensitivity.

I felt physically affronted wandering through department stores and duty-free shopping areas at airports, especially those that you have no choice but to pass through to get to your gate. I try my best to hold my breath until I’m in the clear, but I generally lose the battle and have to accept that at least when departing from some airports, the price I pay for a trip away is the forced inhalation of noxious fumes.

Once you start wondering what’s producing or accompanying the heavily perfumed air moving through your respiratory system, it becomes very difficult not to think about what it might be doing to you (that is, if you happen to have my sort of brain).

The article explores three main sources of harm often lurking inside synthetic perfumes (the fragrance industry uses both synthetic and natural scents to craft perfumes, but as you can imagine, given that they’re cheaper, more accessible, and can be formulated however one wishes, synthetic ingredients are generally preferred).

Phthalates: phthalates won’t be unfamiliar to readers of this newsletter. They’re used in perfumes primarily to dissolve and blend ingredients and to make scents last longer.

Phthalates are known endocrine disruptors; they can mimic or interfere with hormones that naturally exist in our bodies, like oestrogen, potentially leading to reproductive issues and hormonal imbalances. They also persist in the environment and accumulate in our tissues—and in those of the myriad other creatures we share the planet with.

Synthetic musks: commonly found in fragrance formulas, synthetic musks were developed as substitutes for animal-derived musks, which are no longer really used in perfumery in the way they once were. The (welcome) move away from using animal-derived musks has meant that their synthetic counterparts have significantly increased in popularity—but they carry known health risks.

The main reason for using synthetic musks in perfumes is to help fragrances last longer. Without them, many of the ingredients of which perfumes are comprised would quickly evaporate.

However, as is often the case in the world of hidden hazards, the strength of a compound can also be its weakness. The upside is attached to an unavoidable downside. We want our perfumes to linger on our skin for a long time, and synthetic musks help make this happen—but they also cause fragrances to outstay their welcome on the surface of our bodies, gradually bioaccumulating and increasing our overall exposure.

Evidence suggests that synthetic musks might possess endocrine-disrupting properties too; they’ve also been linked to hormonal imbalances and the impairing of reproductive and neurological health in particular.

The long-term effects of continual exposure to synthetic musks through contact with our skin and the air we breathe are currently unknown and understudied (but as we’ve discussed previously, the news is never going to be good—not too terrible tends to be the best we can hope for).

Formaldehyde-releasing agents: formaldehyde-releasing agents (FRAs) are another class of chemicals used in perfumes as preservatives. They slowly release small amounts of formaldehyde over time to help prevent microbial contamination and extend shelf life.

Formaldehyde, alas, is a known human carcinogen—that is, it causes cancer. It can also produce allergic reactions and irritate the skin and respiratory systems of those more sensitive to it.

Once again, these chemical compounds feature in fragrance formulas to make them last longer, but this also increases our exposure to them (though, mercifully, FRAs don’t bioaccumulate in the ways other substances do). FRAs are stable and not especially volatile, meaning that they don’t wash off particularly easily.

Formaldehyde itself won’t appear on any perfume ingredients lists. Specific FRAs (like DMDM hydantoin or imidazolidinyl urea) might be included—though even that’s rare—but these obviously won’t mean anything to the great majority of people.

You might wonder how it’s possible for a known carcinogen to feature in a mass-market consumer product without there being any indication that the product in question contains it. And that’s a great question. The answer is, in essence, that the doses in which formaldehyde exists in the perfumes we buy aren’t high enough to be considered dangerous by regulators. Manufacturers also avoid having to abide by legal limits because FRAs of course aren’t actually the same as formaldehyde; they just release it gradually in small amounts.

There’s thankfully some good news on the FRAs front: the use of these agents is decreasing, especially in parts of the world with stricter regulations in place. And something the article doesn’t actually acknowledge is that using FRAs in perfumes themselves isn’t particularly common anyway, as perfumes tend to be alcohol-based, which obviates the need to use FRAs because alcohol is inherently antimicrobial. FRAs are actually much more likely to be found in cosmetics and personal care products that contain fragrances of some sort (but that’s a discussion for another day).

As fascinating as the details are, the upshot is straightforward: we should probably reduce the extent to which we apply mass-market perfumes to our skin and avoid inhaling their contents wherever we can. And if you really can’t help but cake yourself in them before leaving the house and heading out into the world, try to steer clear of me.

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