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Best low irritant option for scent in Shampoo/Conditioner
What do you all find the best option for this?
Essential oil, fragrance oil?
Any tips and tricks would be appreciated
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9 Replies
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Fragrance oil produced by a proper fragrance house like IFF, Givaudan, etc.
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Thanks @Perry
Do you know how to actually order product from either of these places? The websites seem to to have a lot of info but i’m not sure how to actually purchase anything, do i have to email?
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Yes, you would have to contact their sales departments. But if you are a small company, you might have better luck working with a smaller fragrance house like http://orchidia.com/ or https://carrubba.com/
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@Perry Cheers mate!
Whats with the stigma of fragrances being more irritating? I thought for sure the answer was going to be essential oils…
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I think the stigma comes from the “natural must be better” crowd.Fragrances can be tailored to contain very few/no allergen/irritant ingredients whereas with essential oils you get what is extracted from the plant and can’t really change that (usually quite a few allergens).We get a lot of enquiries from customer looking for products that don’t contains lavender essential oil because despite this oil being promoted as gentle and calming there are many people who are allergic to some of its components (eg. linalool). -
What @ozgirl says. Between fragrances and essential oils, essential oils are more irritating & cause more allergic reactions.
In addition to what ozgirl wrote about the naturalistic fallacy, numerous cosmetic brands have embraced the notion and actively promote the false information. Since a small but significant percentage of the population have allergic reactions or otherwise don’t like fragrances, it’s easy for them to believe that they are bad. And negative scare stories are much more interesting to write and they get more clicks and attention. So, the myth propagates.
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@ozgirl @Perry
Yeah likely story, seems the more I delve into the cosmetic industry the more the whole thing seems a farce. The fear-mongers are spreading disinformation at a level even the Russians would be impressed with!
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@qwerty - in defense of the cosmetic industry, the products really do provide basic benefits. Shampoos clean hair. Body washes clean skin. Conditioners make hair look and feel better. Color cosmetics help people feel better about how their skin looks. Skin moisturizers make skin look and feel better. Fragrances make people smell better.
The biggest problem cosmetic marketers face is that everyone’s product can provide these basic benefits. There may be aesthetic differences that make individuals prefer one product over another, but there are no universal benefits on which products can compete. Except price of course, and almost no one wants to be in a business where you’re trying to make your product cheaper and cheaper.
Since companies are not able to set themselves apart on performance or benefits, they can then only compete on the stories they tell consumers. There are some stories that are much more effective at convincing consumers to buy than other.
One type of story is the “hero ingredient” story. You pick some ingredient (niacinamide, vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, CBD, bakochiol, retinol, any number of natural extracts) and you claim that your product provides superior benefits because of this ingredient. The reality is that the benefits all come from the truly functional ingredients like petrolatum, glycerin, mineral oil, or sodium lauryl sulfate but consumers don’t want to buy those stories. Many consumers want the BS stories.
Perhaps the most effective stories are fear mongering. If you can make a consumer afraid to buy your competitor’s products then your product becomes the natural choice. Fearful consumers are motivated consumers. Clean beauty, green beauty, and natural beauty are all fear mongering marketing positions which have all proven they can get consumers to buy products. Even products that are inferior to ones they have bought in the past.
To me, that is the most unfortunate part of the cosmetic industry. Consumers now pay more money for products that are less effective, cost more, and are even less safe.
But that is what sells. Marketers simply create products & tell stories that consumers want to buy.
So who’s at fault?
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@Perry The human condition maybe?
Peoples lack of critical thinking combined with a tendency to act based on fear with an inclination to blindly follow the pack or used preconceived notions as a blanket measure across all aspects of their beliefs and practices? Who knows really…
Maybe we just like to be entertained!
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