Nice smelling cosmetic products are great, right? There is no arguing the fact that using a fragrant skincare cream or toner is pleasant, but it may not be really good for your skin. Unfortunately, fragrance is a type of ingredient that can cause a lot of problems.
The reason for this is the fact that the pleasant smell is created through a volatile chemical reaction. This results into irritation and a small amount of inflammation. However, fragrances are truly devious in the way they affect your skin, as the negative reaction doesn’t become noticeable right away. Quite often, you won’t develop any common outer signs of skin irritation (redness, rash, etc.), but on the inside, the inflammatory process will destroy collagen cells and reduce your natural ability to withstand oxidation and environmental damage. If the cream in question is designed to prevent these exact problems, its efficiency will be reduced greatly by the presence of such volatile ingredients.
You may not even notice that this problem exists because all these reactions take place in the inner layers of your skin and may show to visible signs that could alert you. Therefore, the only issue you will notice is the fact that the marks of time become more visible, despite the fact that you are using anti-aging products. This, usually, makes people change their skincare routine, and if the new products don’t contain fragrance, your skin would be on the way to recovery.
However, at this point, the damage has already been done, and your collagen has taken a severe blow. As we age, our bodies lose the ability to produce collagen naturally, and infusing your skin with it via creams and supplements can only make up for a part of the precious substance you lose. Therefore, fragrance has the ability to speed up the process of aging and fix the damage it deals to your face with 100% efficiency is impossible.
Fragrance and Acne
Girls with sensitive and acne-prone skin have a stronger negative reaction to fragrant cosmetic products. Rosacea and acne, in particular, are skin disorders that don’t mesh with fragrances at all. Using this type of products will definitely trigger a severe worsening of symptoms.
In this case, reaction to the volatile chemicals shows on the surface of your skin in the form of breakouts that will only get worse, unless you stop using the product. Even then, it will take some time for your skin to return to the norm.
Are Natural Fragrant Oils Safe?
Unfortunately, they are not. The reaction caused by them is the same, though there is no arguing the fact that they are safer for your skin than synthetic chemicals. The good news is the fact that some ingredients (antioxidants, in particular) have a pleasant natural fragrance. They are also 100% safe for your skin.
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to determine whether the scent of the product is caused by an added fragrance or the natural smell of the ingredients. There is also a problem of fragrances being used to block the not-so-pleasant smells that some cosmetic components have. Therefore, the only way to determine whether your skincare product is free of dangerous fragrances is to study the list of ingredients. Do your research to learn what names they may hide under and only buy skincare products from reliable brands, like PureLx.