Why Are Synthetic Fragrance Oils So Popular?
Fragrance Oils Are Made From Synthetic Compounds and Have No Aromatherapeutic Value!
So why are they so popular?
They are Much less Expensive, Have a Consistent Scent,
Offer Greater Variety, Retain Their Scent For A Longer Period Of Time
and are Easier to Manufacture
Synthetic Fragrances Cost Less
Essential oils are incredibly expensive compared to synthetic fragrance oils.
For example, pure neroli essential oil is steam distilled from the flowers of Citrus aurantium, (orange tree). Since it takes approximately 100 pounds of blossoms to produce 1 pound of neroli essential oil, it can cost over $500 for one ounce.
Compared that to the cost of a neroli fragrance oil at about $3.50 per ounce.
The methods used to extract pure essential oils are time-consuming, expensive, and require a high degree of expertise. It takes about 11 pounds of fresh lavender flowers to produce 1 ounce of lavender essential oil.
Many companies have done a great job creating nature-identical fragrance oils that have absolutely no aromatherapeutic value but smell wonderful. Need I say more?
Synthetic Fragrance Offers a Consistent Scent
Growing up I loved the scent of Johnson & Johnson baby products. No matter what you used, baby oil, lotion, powder, and even body sprays, it always had that same scent. Consumers expect that type of consistency in fragrances created by the cosmetic industry.
However, essential oils are more like wine. For example grapes, such as the Sangiovese used to make Chianti wine, vary from region to region. Climate and altitude also influence the nature of the grape; wines made in hotter, drier regions of Southern Tuscany have a different taste than wines made in cooler, higher regions. Even yearly weather conditions like rainfall and temperature affect the flavor of the grape and thus the wine.
Like wine grapes, the quality and scent of essential oils are affected by yearly weather conditions and vary from crop to crop and region to region. This makes it difficult for small natural skin care companies to produce finished products in which the scents are always the same. We often receive emails from customers asking why their favorite scented soap or cream doesn’t smell exactly the same every time. For this reason, many companies opt for fragrance oils to keep their scents uniform.
Synthetic Fragrance Does Not Change Over Time
Synthetic fragrances are strong, they don’t break down easily and they last a very long time.
On the other hand, essential oils, just like any natural plant material, degrade over time, lose potency and eventually their smell.
If you wanted to put your product on a store shelf or warehouse and have it sit for a few years, which would you use?
Synthetic Fragrance Offers a Wide Variety
Many folks have grown accustomed to the large variety of scents available from stores like Bath and Body Works. It is difficult and sometimes impossible to obtain certain scent blends with pure essential oils. There is a much greater variety of blends available with fragrance oils.
Essential oils are natural aromatic oils extracted from flowers, herbs, spices, and leaves.
Although scents like cucumber, watermelon, raspberry, cantaloupe, strawberry, apple, or peach, exist in nature, they do not contain aromatic oils that can be extracted.
There are also floral scents, like lily and lilac, which cannot be extracted from the flowers.
These scents can be manufactured, either totally synthetic or a combination of synthetic and natural oils, to imitate natural scents. When scent blending with fragrance oils, the combinations are almost limitless.
I remember attending my first craft shows as a soap vendor. I was told by a few other soapmakers that my business would never survive if I did not offer the fruity and flowery scent blends that some customers liked.
I guess they never met our customers!
Why We Use Only Real Plant Essential Oils?
Natural Fragrance Oil? . . . Really?
