Perfume: almost every woman uses some amount of this wonderful scented water every day. There are many different types and there is something for everyone. From spicy to sweet, from strong to more subtle. However, perfumes have one thing in common: the composition.
The composition of perfume
Perfume is composed of synthetic fragrances. We experience a perfume as a scented water that smells wonderful. In reality, a perfume is a collection of chemicals that are combined in such a way that our brains make us experience the scent as pleasant. Nowadays, the fragrance elements are no longer a distillation of natural ingredients, but often factory-processed synthetic substances that imitate the scent. Natural perfumes hardly exist anymore; they have had to make way for synthetic perfumes. As a result, when you smell a perfume you are actually smelling a cocktail of dangerous neurotoxic chemicals. Nowadays, 95% of perfumes consist of petrochemicals. These are dangerous chemicals extracted from petroleum.
The dangers of synthetic perfumes
The many hazardous chemicals can be carcinogenic. You can also experience all kinds of vague complaints from perfume, such as headache, allergic rash, dizziness, coughing, vomiting, skin irritation and discoloration on the skin. It is often not clear that these complaints are due to the use of perfume.
Due to the neurotoxicological substances, perfume can also affect the central nervous system. Symptoms include depression, overactivity, irritability or other behavioral disturbances. You may also experience memory loss, facial numbness, blurred vision, pain in the neck and pain in the spine.
Phalates
In 2002, a major study was conducted in which 72 popular perfumes and scented products were tested. The presence of the dangerous substance phalates was examined. It is suspected that this substance can cause hormone disorders, permanent birth defects and damage to the male reproductive organs. This substance was found in 52 of the 72 products. It was striking that all tested perfumes contained this substance.
It is very difficult to control the use of banned substances. The perfume industry maintains a trade secret; Manufacturers do not want to mention the exact composition of their perfumes on the label and thus try to protect the unique scent.
Differences between perfumes
The major perfume brands are under a little more pressure than the manufacturers that produce cheap perfumes. There is a good chance that the requirements for perfumes abroad can vary considerably. It is possible that certain substances that are banned in Europe may be used in Turkey. So be careful when buying perfume (especially counterfeit perfume) abroad. This also applies to the cheap, unknown counterfeit or unbranded perfumes in the Netherlands. It is suspected that these perfumes more often contain dangerous substances than the more expensive perfumes from the major brands.