Hi everyone,
I love fragrant products and my skin has responded well to many fragrant soaps and aftershaves. Recently Ive been trying a lot of new soaps and aftershaves and Ive noticed that some of these products are causing extreme irritation for me. In this post I will not be discussing the products I have had a negative reaction to by name; I really appreciate the variety we currently have. Rather, I would like to build a list of known irritants used for fragrances in products. Please feel free to add to this list and like everything in wet shaving YMMV. Also this post is based on my limited knowledge and research, I look forward to more experienced members adding their insight.
First, it is important to note the recommended maximum value of fragrance oil in a cold processed soap is 3-5% by weight, this can be as low as 1-2% for hot-processed soaps. For lotions its about 1%. Im not sure what it should be for AS splashes.
It is also important to note that the following is a list of irritants, the natural oils that contain these irritants are numerous.
A list of known skin Irritants (Oakley, 2015) and their associated fragrance profile (The Good Scents Company, 2016):
Amylcinnamic Alcohol Sweet, spicy, fruity with a cinnamon nuance
Anisyl alcohol - Sweet, powdery creamy, balsamic, coumarin and slightly lactonic, cherry and licorice nuance
Benzyl Alcohol - floral rose phenolic balsamic
Benzyl salicylate balsam clean herbal oily sweet
Cinnamic alcohol - sweet balsam hyacinth spicy green powdery cinnamic
Cinnamic aldehyde sweet spice cinnamon red hots warm
Coumarin sweet hay tonka new mown hay
Eugenol sweet spicy clove, woody
Geraniol - sweet floral fruity rose waxy citrus
Hydroxycitronellal floral lily sweet green waxy tropical melon
Isoeugenol sweet spicy clove woody carnation floral
Musk ambrette musty sweet ambrette seed
Oak moss absolute Green, herbal, woody, mossy, seaweed, earthy, hay and tobacco-like
Sandalwood oil sweet woody balsamic cashew terpene herbal spicy
Wood Tars
I love fragrant products and my skin has responded well to many fragrant soaps and aftershaves. Recently Ive been trying a lot of new soaps and aftershaves and Ive noticed that some of these products are causing extreme irritation for me. In this post I will not be discussing the products I have had a negative reaction to by name; I really appreciate the variety we currently have. Rather, I would like to build a list of known irritants used for fragrances in products. Please feel free to add to this list and like everything in wet shaving YMMV. Also this post is based on my limited knowledge and research, I look forward to more experienced members adding their insight.
First, it is important to note the recommended maximum value of fragrance oil in a cold processed soap is 3-5% by weight, this can be as low as 1-2% for hot-processed soaps. For lotions its about 1%. Im not sure what it should be for AS splashes.
It is also important to note that the following is a list of irritants, the natural oils that contain these irritants are numerous.
A list of known skin Irritants (Oakley, 2015) and their associated fragrance profile (The Good Scents Company, 2016):
Amylcinnamic Alcohol Sweet, spicy, fruity with a cinnamon nuance
Anisyl alcohol - Sweet, powdery creamy, balsamic, coumarin and slightly lactonic, cherry and licorice nuance
Benzyl Alcohol - floral rose phenolic balsamic
Benzyl salicylate balsam clean herbal oily sweet
Cinnamic alcohol - sweet balsam hyacinth spicy green powdery cinnamic
Cinnamic aldehyde sweet spice cinnamon red hots warm
Coumarin sweet hay tonka new mown hay
Eugenol sweet spicy clove, woody
Geraniol - sweet floral fruity rose waxy citrus
Hydroxycitronellal floral lily sweet green waxy tropical melon
Isoeugenol sweet spicy clove woody carnation floral
Musk ambrette musty sweet ambrette seed
Oak moss absolute Green, herbal, woody, mossy, seaweed, earthy, hay and tobacco-like
Sandalwood oil sweet woody balsamic cashew terpene herbal spicy
Wood Tars