How To Tell If My Moisturiser Is Fragrance-Free

For those with highly sensitive skin, a fully fragrance-free moisturiser is a must! And I say, ‘fully fragrance-free’ because so many labelled as so actually have hidden scents that are playing havoc with our bodies.

You need to check, check and check again that any moisturiser you’re applying is fragrance-free and I’m going to show you exactly how to do that in this blog.

The thing with moisturiser is that if the moisturiser itself is causing you problems you won’t notice. It’s a vicious cycle, and I have been there: my skin was dry and sore, I applied moisturiser, my skin got no better, and in hindsight, steadily worse. Naturally, I applied more moisturisers, and I was stuck in a vicious circle.

That was until I learned where I was going wrong: the moisturisers, even those recommended by medical professionals were not suitable for my very sensitive skin. Although labelled fragrance-free they were not.

And so I had to learn how to decipher a fragrance-free moisturiser from one that is not. The good news for you is that I am sharing everything I know so you can fast-track yourself to happier skin.

Additionally, in the EU, allergens only need to be listed if the concentration exceeds certain levels. Totally fine for the average person, but for sensitive skin, it’s another source of frustration.

There is one unequivocally accurate way to tell whether or not something is fragranced and that’s by using what God gave you: your nose!

The trick to smell-testing fragrance-free moisturisers

Perform a smell test to determine if a moisturiser is truly fragrance-free. Here you can rely on your wonderful body and its innate knowing of what’s good and bad.

I will do a smell test in any store. If I can open a product without breaking a seal, I’m sniffing it.

If there’s a seal, I’ll sniff the packaging to see if I can pick anything up. Once you get onto a fully fragrance-free lifestyle, your nose gets really sensitive so you’ll be surprised what you can sense.

How to Detect Fragrance in moisturiser

To test for fragrance, simply smell the moisturiser.

The fragrance-free moisturiser should have little to no scent at all.

If you detect any kind of aroma or scent, it’s likely that the moisturiser contains added fragrances and is not fragrance-free.

You may get a little hint of something, like a chemical smell; this is near impossible to avoid since the only thing that doesn’t smell at all is water. And to be fair, even water can have a subtle smell of something.

You would likely describe the smell as ‘a bit chemically’ rather than say, “floral.” You might find it doesn’t smell bad, but it’s not particularly nice either.

Tips for identifying subtle fragrances in moisturiser

When you get your product home, give it a second smell test while you use it. Once lathered, a scent may become more apparent.

Hear me out: you will know if a product is going to make your skin feel bad. Your body will have a natural and slightly averse reaction to it. If you don’t find this is the case yet, I believe you will, as you refine your senses and lean into your intuition.

Naturally, it’s trickier to identify what’s harming a loved one’s, or a child’s skin. The trick here is go as minimalist as possible, all you need is the cleaning agent.