The Fragrance-Free Choice: Healthy Babies, Healthy Home, Healthy Planet!

We know that humans evolved over millions of years alongside the plants and flowers of our planet and we all are programmed via our genetic coding to recognize the multi-flora that surrounds us. So, natural, especially certified organic plant essences and extracts and flower, fruit and other botanical volatile oils work in harmony with our bodies and help to keep us healthy and balanced. In addition to recognizing and utilizing our world’s natural botanical essences and other phyto-nutrient molecules, we are also born with DNA coding to recognize and react to the natural human pheromone molecules emitted by the people that surround us.

What is a pheromone and why is it important? Pheromones are naturally-occurring chemicals made by all human bodies that, once secreted and inhaled, can impact the behavior of the receiving individual (hopefully in a positive way). Pheromones are important because they are capable of producing subtle and strong physiological effects. For example, scientists have now confirmed that female rats can’t get pregnant if they can’t smell the pheromones of male rats! Wow. Could this translate into fertility problems in humans in this modern world overloaded with chemical fragrance compounds that block and mask our natural pheromones and can interfere with normal physiological functions?

Interestingly, some researchers posit that synthetic chemicals that mask our natural human pheromones, may interfere with our innate ability to utilize our bodies' natural pheromones to assist us in finding a compatible human mate. (Other animal species utilize their natural pheromones to help them determine the compatibility or suitability of potential mates, i.e., dogs sniffing other dogs when they meet.) Some researchers even speculate that divorce rates may be so high because of the many fragrance chemicals and strong detergent cleansers that humans use every day that smother or eliminate our natural pheromones and that may interfere with finding a suitable mate. This theory does make us pause...

There is additional science indicating that the potential fertility effects and other serious, unwanted physiological issues occurring in adults and children may be related to over-exposures to the synthetic fragrance chemicals in our modern world. We say “over-exposure” because toxicologists have informed us that inhalation is our number one source of toxic exposures in our daily lives. Skin absorption is your number two source of toxic exposure, opthamalogic (through your eyes!) is number three and, surprise, eating/drinking—ingestion—is the fourth route of chemical exposure. This is important knowledge: science tells us we should pay more attention to the products that we bring into our homes that emit volatile substances that we inhale and that also contain other chemicals that we rub into our bodies!

Babies smell their mother’s natural pheromones (and dad’s) seconds after birth, and as they burrow their tiny noses against mom’s breast and dad's neck when nuzzling and snuggling throughout the day and night. We know that an infant’s brain continues to develop after birth, building neural pathways intensely for the first six months and vigorously to eighteen months (slowing thereafter). When mom's and dad’s pheromones are inhaled over and over during those first few months, they trigger reinforcement of the neural pathways—nerve bundles sheathed in a lipid myelin shield—that transmit neurons to distant memory and motor function areas of the brain. The more neurons that travel the pathway more frequently, the stronger the neural pathway bundles become, and the stronger the bond between mom, dad, siblings and other family members. Further, the more pathways that are created within the brain, the greater the capacity for intellectual development.

Unlike any other period in our human historical evolutionary time frame, we now know that modern human bodies are being dramatically flooded with vast quantities of toxic and synthetic fragrance chemicals (and many other synthetic chemicals) from hundreds to thousands of sources every single day. Chemical fragrances are found in personal care, laundry, household, garden and automotive products; signature chemical fragrances are pumped into retail stores, hotels, public restrooms, car dealerships, theaters, bakeries, etc. The petrochemical fragrance compounds are pumped through heating and cooling systems (i.e., fake cinnamon bun and popcorn fragrance used in shopping malls and theaters, “new car” scent for used cars, etc.). Petrochemical fragrances are found in air fresheners, scented nail polish, scented markers and crayons, scented tissue papers, scratch-off scent strips, scented candles, scented plastic trash cans and trash bags, scented cat litter, and on and on and on. Even some of the so-called “natural flavors” and artificial flavors contain synthetic aroma chemicals that people inhale and eat and that then travel through the body and have been detected in a mother’s milk! (Mmm-mm that juice smells good! Yes, aroma chemicals are used in foods and beverages to make you think that the highly processed foods will taste good.)

You want to protect your baby and provide the most nourishing environment in which your child will be conceived and grow. We worry about the neurological/developmental and endocrine problems affecting far too many children these days—autism, learning disabilities/dyslexia, auto-immune disorders, asthma, cancer, and so on. Autism? Yes, new research indicates a link between toxic fragrance chemicals in consumer goods and autism spectrum disorder. Some chemical compounds have also been linked to seizures. We also know that a vast number of fragrance chemicals are manufactured from petrochemicals and contain benzene ring compounds which are highly mutagenic at extremely low concentrations. When a mother uses products containing such fragrance chemicals, upon inhalation and/or absorption or oral ingestion the chemicals have the capacity to quickly pass into her blood and brain and cross the placenta to cause fetal brain cell damage.

Do you think that, for your baby’s sake, it might be time to put an end to this madness? We do!

Children’s bodies are small and because they do not have an adult’s ability to detoxify and excrete toxins, they absorb and inhale proportionally higher doses of toxins per unit of body weight, which means that their organs may suffer permanent and irreversible damage more quickly because they are not fully developed. Because children are more susceptible to toxins than adults, we need to be especially careful about what they inhale and what we rub into their precious skin. Remember, babies can’t tell you that they are experiencing a migraine or lung tightness when you use the shampoo and lotion with a synthetic fragrance.

Conventional body care chemicals have been linked to reproductive problems in both women (e.g., endometriosis and the increasingly early onset of puberty in young girls) and men (e.g., falling sperm counts and congenital birth defects of the reproductive organs) and to some cancers. Many synthetic chemicals are endocrine disruptors and neurotoxins and have been linked to developmental deficiencies and learning disabilities in children. Two chemical preservatives commonly used in personal care and household products and recently banned in Europe—methylisothiazolinone and methylchloroisothiazolinone—are not only irritating to the skin, they have also been linked to brain damage in adults and unborn children, and are known to become more toxic when used together!

The FDA reports that some chemicals (some even found in “natural” body care and household cleaning products) were found cause to cancer in laboratory animals. The National Toxicology Program (NTP) found that repeated application to one’s skin of some chemicals—diethanolamine (DEA), or its fatty acid derivative cocamide DEA—induced liver and kidney cancer. NTP also emphasized that DEA is readily absorbed through the skin and accumulates in organs, such as the brain, where it induces chronic toxic effects. Chemicals like cocamide DEA, lauramide DEA or MEA or triethanolamine (TEA) can be also found in synthetic soaps, and so-called “natural” and “organic” body washes, hair care, hair dyes and bleaches, and household cleaning products.

Did you know that many years ago chemical companies lobbied the government to be exempt from disclosing their proprietary chemical fragrance formulas containing a dozen to hundreds of chemical ingredients to the public, and even to doctors? Why are manufacturers still allowed to hide chemicals that have been shown to be so problematic? So, as there is no legal requirement for any or all of a fragrance’s individual chemical components to be identified, when you see “fragrance” or “parfum/perfume,” even “natural fragrance" on personal care product labels...buyer beware!

You might be interested to know that reported problems from synthetic “fragrance” have included headaches, dizziness, rashes, skin discoloration, sore throats, wheezing, coughing, sneezing and vomiting. Studies have shown that exposure to some petrochemical fragrances can affect the central nervous system, causing depression, confusion, hyperactivity, irritability, inability to cope, and other behavioral changes.

Not surprisingly, some fragrance chemicals and fragrance additives are known endocrine disruptors that can persist in the environment for years—yes, in the environment. Millions, even billions of humans around the globe use synthetic chemical fragrances (and detergent and emollient oleochemicals laced with toxic preservative chemicals) every single day. Personal care and household chemicals are sprayed into our air becoming a known source of air pollution. Personal care and household chemicals are used multiple times every day and are rinsed down the drain into our ground water and our waterways—into our drinking water. Where does it end?

All of the many negative personal health and environmental problems associated with the manufacture and use of conventional cosmetic chemicals are the reasons that we believe that all baby (and adult) personal care products (especially those labeled as organic or natural) should be made from organic-acceptable ingredients that you wouldn’t be afraid to eat, touch or inhale. After all, isn’t that how the word organic is interpreted in the natural food industry—to define the purity of food? When we mix our small, pure batches of organic oils, butters and herbals to create our organic baby body care products for you, we’re proud that we use only the healthiest ingredients to make what we think of as organic food for your skin. You will be delighted with the organic freshness of our products and relieved to feel the distinctive natural quality of our organic baby care products on your skin and on your baby—soft, protective, pure.

After years of reviewing research, we recommend our fragrance-free products for all mothers and fathers-to-be, for nursing mom’s and newborns, and baby’s siblings. Why not have granny and grandpa and aunts and uncles go fragrance-free too? As we love to see smart children in happy families thrive organically, we encourage everyone to be fragrance-free for at least six months, and even up to eighteen months after your new baby is born! Enjoy! Be happy! Be well!

Here’s the bottom line: conventional chemical personal care products pollute the planet in their manufacture and they pollute your body, your home, our air and our waterways. Conventional chemical personal care products don’t benefit you or your children in any way. So why use them at all?