How To Tell If My Shampoo Is Fragrance-free?

If I wash my hair in fragranced shampoo just once, I’m most likely going to suffer for it: red, sore, itchy, and puffy eyes are how it manifests, and it’s miserable.

I’d dare to say that finding a fragranced-free shampoo was life-changing.

It took me years to get here, which is why I created this website: to fast-track you to everything I know about shampoo and fragrances so you can find a faster route to a fragrance-free life and heal your body.

For the years leading up to me finding my favourite shampoo (it’s <a href=”https://www.foreverfragrancefree.com/brand/faith-in-nature/”>Faith in Nature</a>, by the way), I thought I was doing myself a favour by trialling every natural (and expensive!) shampoo that I could get my hands on.

A natural shampoo had to be good for me, right?

Wrong.

For those with sensitive skin, it’s not enough to buy fragrance-free products according to the label. You need to take your detective skills to that next level, and that’s what I will teach you today: how to tell if a shampoo is genuinely fragrance-free.

Identifying Fragrance-Free shampoo

There are two key factors to consider when identifying if a shampoo is fragrance-free or not: the ingredient list and the sniff test.

Reading the Ingredients List

First, you can reduce your options massively by looking for the following words in the ingredients:

• Fragrance
• Parfum
• Perfume
• Aroma or similar.

These words are a red flag to me, as they probably will be for you.

Put the product back on the shelf and move on to the next one.

If none of the words listed above are on the item, then you’ve likely found a fragrance-free product by the beauty industry’s standards.

But don’t stop there.

Fragrance-free does not mean unscented.

What you need to do next is identify if any of the ingredients might contain a scent.

This was a life-changing realisation for me. My skin cannot tolerate any sort of smell, even naturally occurring.

Recognising common fragranced ingredients

Over time, you’ll get better at noticing common fragrance ingredients. This will feel like a lot, to begin with, but the more you do it, the longer your list naturally builds up.

Fragrances are hidden in essential oils and naturally occurring ingredients.

“Cinnamal” is a good example for me to use since my body reacts immediately after using it. I once washed my hair in shampoo with cinnamal while at my mums. Before my hair was dry my face was swollen and sore.

The thing is, Cinnamal is very natural. It derives from the bark of cinnamon trees, though it can also be manufactured.

Here are some (nowhere near all) natural ingredients/essential oils that are found in everyday products:

• Limonene: Found in citrus oils like orange, lemon, and lime.
• Linalool: Present in oils like lavender, rosewood, and bergamot.
• Citronellol: Common in rose and geranium oils.
• Geraniol: Found in geranium, rose, and palmarosa oils.
• Citral: A component of lemongrass, lemon myrtle, and lemon and lime peel oils.
• Eugenol: Found in clove, cinnamon, and bay leaf oils.
• Coumarin: Naturally occurring in lavender and tonka bean oils.

These ingredients all carry scents, in fact, if you read the description, I imagine you’ll imagine exactly what they might smell like.

In small quantities, they’re harmless to the average person, but for me and you, or your loved one, these ingredients cause issues.

Why are these fragranced ingredients added to supposed fragrance-free shampoo?

Ingredients in shampoos are not always added to enhance the fragrance, but this doesn’t mean that they don’t have a smell.

Sticking with essential oils, essential oils like those listed above are used in shampoos, especially by brands who want to keep the ingredients list natural.

Essential oils might be added for their antibacterial properties and not the scent. But they are still scented.

Another thing that’s worth noting: in the U.K., shampoo manufacturers are not permitted to list every single ingredient; some are trade secrets. This makes sense to protect the product, but it’s less than ideal if scents and perfumes bother your skin.

Blends of fragrances hide under ‘parfum’ or ‘perfume,’ making it nearly impossible to avoid individual scents you have trouble with.

I was lucky enough to get allergy tested, so I know my allergies are severe enough that I should avoid all fragrances. For others, it might be a case of trial and error. If this is the case, I’d recommend stripping your shampoo right back to basics, see if it helps, and then add ingredients slowly.