Content of fragrance mix ingredients and customer complaints of cosmetic products.

BACKGROUND

In relation to the wide use of cosmetics, serious adverse effects are rare. Occasionally, unwanted effects such as contact dermatitis are reported. Allergic reactions to cosmetics are often caused by fragrances.

OBJECTIVE

The aim was to investigate the content of fragrance mix (FM) ingredients in cosmetic products of the brand ACO HUD (Stockholm, Sweden) and the frequency of customer skin complaints about fragranced and unfragranced products over 4.5 years.

METHOD: Content of FM ingredients in the fragrances used was both analyzed and requested from the suppliers. Customer complaints were those reported to the company.

RESULTS

Between 1 and 7 of FM ingredients were present in levels of less than 0.1 to 770 ppm. The ingredients, in order of frequency, were geraniol, eugenol, hydroxycitronellal, alpha-amyl cinnamic aldehyde, isoeugenol, cinnamic alcohol, and oak moss. Cinnamic aldehyde was not found. No significant difference was found either between the frequency of complaints about products with and without fragrance (P = .21) or in a paired comparison of 17 formulas marketed with and without fragrance (P = .24).

CONCLUSION

The study suggests that the investigated fragranced products had a low content of FM ingredients, which might explain the absence of a higher frequency of adversities. Furthermore, it appears that under such circumstances fragrances may be used without introducing an increased rate of spontaneous complaints of skin reactions.