You might have read on the back of a soap or a scrub in the ingredients and seen the word “fragrance” and you might have seen the word “essential oil”. There is a huge difference between these 2 ingredients in regards to how your skincare product is scented.
The fragrance is often times unknown in terms of the chemical makeup. Manufacturers of products in the United States and many countries of the world do not have to list the ingredients of a fragrance, whereas a fragrance could be made up of dozens of ingredients. The term “fragrance” is really a trade-secret in terms of ingredients and can contain many toxic or harmful substances that do not have to be listed! Fragrance also can never be organically certified since all ingredients of the “fragrance” will need to be declared organic certified.
Essential oils are pure oils that are extracted from the plant. There are several methods of extracting the pure oil of the plant, ranging from expeller press (using pressure to squeeze the plant) or using more complicated methods such as carbon dioxide extraction/high pressure (CO2 extraction) methods. Often times organic certified essential oils will use CO2 extraction in order to make the essential oil as pure as possible.