Perfume and Cologne - Allergy Guide

In recent years, there have been growing concerns about the toxicity and allergenic potential of the many fragrance raw materials. This issue is complex; however there is no question that any chemical taken in large doses will harm you. It is also true that the doses of chemicals contained in perfumes and cologne, whether natural or synthetic, is not little. But perfumery materials are neither potent drugs nor potent toxins and the 10 milligrams of a mixture that is sprayed on your skin will dealt with by your body as part of its routine cleansing operations.

Almost everything has the potential to become an allergen. In general, if you are exposed to high doses of a particular chemical over numerous occasions, there is a small possibility that you will start to develop an allergy. For perfume and cologne, very often small doses of strong-smelling molecules are used and as a result it is unlikely that you will generate allergies through such exposure.

However, it is undeniable that a few unlucky people do suffer from acute respiratory allergies, which can obstruct airway and life threatening. For such people, I suggest they carry with them a list of known allergens when they are travelling around or shopping for a fragrance. In cases where it is too late to avoid coming in contact with the allergen, and you already started to seize with allergy symptoms, try to relax and change your location as soon as possible to get rid of the source of the allergen.

For the rest of the people, we normally risk skin rashes. We can either assumed everything as allergen free and spray the fragrance on fabric instead of on our skin when we know we have problems with some of the ingredients, else reduce the portfolio of the types of perfume we can choose from. Headaches are a common reaction by people who are exposed to a huge amount of fragrance. However, these are not allergic reaction but merely reactions due to your sensory input being overwhelm.

There is a special group of individuals that we have to take special care when exposing them to fragrances. It is know that people suffering from a certain medical conditions, such as autism, can make these individuals extremely sensitive to smells. There are cases where even a mild smell can seem like a great pain to such individuals. So the next time when you visit someone with a special medical condition, try not to wear any fragrance. It is also a kind of concern that we can project to the individual.