Should You Give Perfume for the Holidays?

That would be a resounding NO.  NO no no no a million times no.  There are a ton of celebrity perfumes out at the moment, all in pretty bottles and heavily marketed.  Why are these a terrible idea?  Because they contain carcinogens and harm the person wearing it and people around them.  In my opinion, fragrance is on par with cigarette smoke, even worse because it's harder to escape.

Commercial perfumes (not essential oils and fragrances that come from the actual plant) contain all sorts of toxic chemicals, including formaldehyde.  How sexy is that?  They routinely contain hormone disrupters and chemicals which trigger asthma and migraines.   But just because you may not seem to react to perfume by sneezing, wheezing, nausea, etc., that doesn't mean you aren't being affected.  Perfumes can be responsible for muscle and joint pain, difficulty concentrating, depression, immune disorders, learning disabilities, and other symptoms one might not associate with fragrance.

Fragrance lurks in laundry detergents, fabric softeners, soaps, etc., but for now let's just focus on the most obvious offender.  Have you ever shook someone's hand only to find that you can't get rid of their perfume or cologne smell?  Or sat next to someone on a plane only to have a migraine by the time you've reached your destination?  I believe if people knew how toxic and offensive most perfumes were, they'd at least switch to something more organic.  There are a few organic perfume companies out there that have lovely non toxic perfumes in pretty bottles, check out A PERFUME ORGANIC or MIESSENCE for some wonderful options. 


Image Credit:  mraitch

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