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Unscented vs. Fragrance-free
Question about marketing fragrance-free products.
Is it okay to say “unscented” if no chemicals have been added to neutralize odor? I’ve seen a lot of companies say “unscented” to mean “fragrance-free,” and I wasn’t sure if there was some sort of industry standard to mandate one term over the other or if either is fine due to customer perception of what it means.
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2 Replies
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Unscented often means you added an ingredient to mask the odor of the formula. It could also mean you added a fragrance but the product has no specific odor.
Fragrance free means you didn’t add a fragrance
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Not sure where you are @RKB but “free from” claims have some strict guidelines in the EU and there’s hope that this will turn into law rather than just guidance and push to stop companies using “free from” claims especially if all ingredients are used within regulatory limits (and thus seen as safe). In the EU if there are allergens in the fragrance used (components of fragrance), they may need to be listed on labels as well. (ref: https://food.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2018-07/codex_ccfl_cl-2018-24_ann-02.pdf )
A couple of articles:
https://www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com/Article/2019/09/06/Cosmetics-free-from-claims-guidance-EU-explained
https://www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com/Article/2019/09/09/Free-from-claims-cosmetics-EU-requires-honesty-fairness-and-safety-says-experthttps://bespokelaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Bespoke-Free-from-and-hypoallergenic-claims.pdf
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