Unscented Products for Sensitive Skin

Here at Natur Cosmetics, I understand sensitive skin. My brand got started because I had to learn to formulate my own skincare, since my skin reacted to all the commercial products I tried. So if, like me, you suffer from allergies or other sensitisation issues, read on to find out more about how my products can help, as well as some of the problems with formulating unscented products. 

Photo by Chermiti Mohamed on Unsplash

I discussed in an earlier article some of the problems with fragrance in skincare products. Although not the only culprit (preservatives and surfactants being another two common causes of allergies), fragrance is one of the key ingredients that many people with sensitive skin look to avoid, as it often triggers sensitivities. Although synthetic fragrances are far more commonly to blame for allergies than natural essential oils, because these are much gentler and better processed by the body, some people with sensitive skin prefer to avoid all fragrance compounds entirely. However, this can be complicated for formulators of natural products. 

What some people don't realise is that natural ingredients don't always smell all that great! In particular, unrefined oils that are high in Omega Fatty Acids, such as flax seed, rosehip, olive and so on, tend to have very characteristic smells. You might like the smell of olive oil (which is mostly Omega 9, oleic acid), but that doesn't mean you necessarily want your skin to smell strongly of it. The oils with high Omega 3 content meanwhile, such as flax and rosehip, have a smell that reminds many people of fish. Personally, I always think they smell of chip fat, which I suppose is pretty similar when I think back to childhood trips to buy chips at the fish and chip shop. Either way, it's not a great smell and probably not something you want to plaster on your skin! Other natural products are the same, with nut butters smelling of nuts, cocoa butter smelling of chocolate and so on. You might find these smells pleasant in and of themselves, but you may not want to go around smelling like you've smeared peanut butter over yourself. 

To get around this problem, distributors of skincare ingredients produce deodorised versions of strongly scented ingredients. These go through chemical processing, including bleaching, dewaxing and extreme temperatures, to remove the volatile compounds that produce the scent. Many commercial skincare companies choose to use these deodorised oils and butters in their products to avoid customers complaining about undesirable scents, and they still advertise the inclusion of the ingredient to attract customers, but after all of that processing, how many therapeutic properties of the original ingredient do you think will be left? As natural formulators, we want our products to contain the true goodness of nature, and that means using unrefined ingredients that have undergone as little processing as possible. You'll notice that I favour cold-pressed oils in all my products, which means that the seeds or fruit have been gently squashed to release the oil, and nothing else has been done to it. This ensures that whatever skin benefits are claimed for a particular oil are actually applicable to the ingredient that I buy and put into my product, because it's in its raw, natural form. 

Photo by Chelsea Shapouri on Unsplash

However, that creates a problem. If I mix together a lot of unprocessed oils with beneficial skin properties, I might end up with a nourishing serum, but if it smells like a fish and chip shop, no one will want to use it. So, what's the solution? Essential oils add further skin nourishing qualities to the product, as well as masking the scent of the oils and producing a pleasant overall perfume. When used correctly in small quantities, essential oils very rarely cause allergic reactions or trigger sensitive skin. 

Nonetheless, for those people who do have problems even with essential oils, I wanted to offer a solution. Therefore, I've done my best to make entirely unscented versions available of as many of my products as possible. There are three versions of my cleansing balm currently available, with two different scents to choose from and then an entirely unscented version. 

My Marvellous Mineral Bath Salts, Solid Shampoo Bar, Nourishing Cuticle Oil, Kitchen Soap and Gardener's Soap are all available in unscented versions. Some of these, such as the cuticle oil will have a slight 'oily' scent, because of the ingredients they contain, whilst others don't smell of anything. I've also generally left out any colours (clays) I use in these products, to make the unscented versions as simple as possible. 

Additionally, I have deliberately left out any fragrance from some of my products. My makeup products are all unscented, although the lip-gloss does contain natural flavour oils. Again, this is because most customers will not use a product on their lips that does not taste nice, but I don't want to include anything in lip products that would not be edible. I decided that my Luscious Lipstick tasted fine as it was, which I was pleased about as it meant I could avoid adding any flavouring. I wanted to leave essential oils out of my Goddess Luxury Bi-phase Cleanser too, as I know people often use a cleanser to remove eye makeup, and essential oils should be avoided around the eye area. I therefore experimented with many different oils, until I found a combination that wouldn't smell too chip fatty when mixed with the hydrosols I included. 

I hope those with extra sensitive skin find something to their liking among the range of products here at Natur Cosmetics.