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Chemical Free – This is an often repeated (usually) unintentional lie. A
perfume that is chemical free doesn’t exist. A person that is chemical free doesn’
t exist. All matter has a chemical composition. Antimatter has a chemical
composition (or, according to my boyfriend, an “anti-chemical” composition.
Which for purposes of this conversation means yes, it has a chemical
composition.) While we can talk about the Emperor’s clothing in a metaphysical
setting, we’re not letting him hang up his naked in this closet. Free of
“dangerous chemicals” is slightly more accurate, but will always bear
investigation. We live in a world where caffeine is good for you or bad for you
depending on the decade; the debate is even more intense when it comes down
to citrus essential oils. This makes labels of “this is totally safe” all but totally
impossible and “this is natural and therefore safe” not just inaccurate but
immoral.
Petroleum Free – To be truly petroleum-free, a product would need to be hand-
produced and walked to the store where you obtain it, and then you would have
to walk it home. In reality, what this means is that no petroleum is included in
the ingredients of a product. Many synthetic chemicals are produced using
petroleum, and natural absolutes are often extracted by using a petroleum
based solvent called hexane. Avoiding petrol, even in natural products, is often
harder than you’d think.
Preservatives/ No Preservatives – Preservatives can be a bad idea in things
you eat (Wonderbread and Twinkies terrify me), but in things you put on your
skin, unless they’re phthalate based, they are actually a pretty good idea. You’d
get pretty ticked off if your facial moisturizer molted or your mascara grew green
moss. Also, not all pthalates are created equal – it usually comes down to using
a good thing so much it turns into a bad thing.
Aromachemical Specific Terms
“Aromachemical” means smelly things! So the things that make you sniff, whiff
and admit you inhaled belong in this category. These can get really confusing –
essential oils versus fragrance oils, and some people are still surprised that
there’s much more to the game than just that.
Essential Oil – An essential oil is what’s left of the plant after you steam it,
dissolve it or press it so much that there’s nothing left but a puddle. The
puddle, depending on the plant, can be really high-potency stuff, often
evaporates really fast and is the cornerstone of perfume creation.
Fragrance Oil – Mystery mix synthetic chemicals (that may include natural
material) that, through the isolation of a particular molecule or set of
molecules, usually smells like something familiar. Because regulations excuse
all perfume companies whether natural or synthetic from disclosing their
product ingredients, very little is known about the process by which fragrance
oils are created. “Aldeyhde” is a frequent known fragrance oil ingredient, but
again, it’s difficult to pin down without the benefit of a gas chromatograph and
information direct from a chemist. Also, gas chromatography tells much but
doesn’t tell everything – and that will be a future conversation.
Absolute – Material extracted from plants with a solvent, usually used in cases
where the plant material is too delicate to withstand steam distillation or cold
pressing. The solvent used is usually the petroleum-based hexane although
there are advancing technologies in creating absolutes (see C02 extracts) that
may change this.
C02 Extract – This is a recent extraction technology that uses sublimated (goes
straight from solid to gas with no liquid stage) carbon dioxide in place of a
(usually) hexane solvent to extract essential material from a plant. It’s also
been applicable to some plants that break down even in a solvent extraction.