By Sarah Kinonen, Allure
While the demand for cleaner beauty products continues to rise, beauty companies have quietly been taking note. Case in point: Skin-care and hair-care giant Unilever's newest initiative, which will provide consumers with more-detailed descriptions of fragrance ingredients on the product labels for all of its brands. Currently, if a product is made with a type of fragrance, it's listed generically as "fragrance."
And that one word, "fragrance," can mean all sorts of things, from natural compounds like essential or botanical extracts, or man-made aroma chemicals that imitate the odors of more expensive smells, or work to enhance the overall fragrance composition. Some other fragrances are added to mask more unpleasant ones. And the concern, in most cases, is that fragrances can be known allergens that lead to irritation and dermatitis on those with sensitive skin.
[post_ads]"We believe this initiative will help consumers know more about the products they use every day and build further trust for their favorite Unilever personal care brands," Tamara Rogers, executive vice president of personal care for Unilever United States, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The industry giant, which houses a slew of brands in its portfolio, including Pond's, Dove, Vaseline, Noxzema, Lever 2000, Tresemmé, and Nexxus, promises to include fragrance ingredients on all of its products through SmartLabel by the end of 2018. In addition to SmartLabel, Unilever will also launch a webpage featuring product information and ingredient explanations. Bottom line: Unilever has never been more transparent than now.
Currently, the European Union has certain standards that prohibit the inclusion of certain known fragrance allergens —like amyl cinnamal, linalool and citronellol, among 22 others—in personal care products. Some of the Unilever products sold in the U.S. meet those standards now, voluntarily, but the company plans to expand those practices through all of its products. According to Ken Cook, president and co-founder of the watchdog organization Environmental Working Group, that's "an enormous win."
[post_ads]"We believe this initiative will help consumers know more about the products they use every day and build further trust for their favorite Unilever personal care brands," Tamara Rogers, executive vice president of personal care for Unilever United States, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The industry giant, which houses a slew of brands in its portfolio, including Pond's, Dove, Vaseline, Noxzema, Lever 2000, Tresemmé, and Nexxus, promises to include fragrance ingredients on all of its products through SmartLabel by the end of 2018. In addition to SmartLabel, Unilever will also launch a webpage featuring product information and ingredient explanations. Bottom line: Unilever has never been more transparent than now.
Currently, the European Union has certain standards that prohibit the inclusion of certain known fragrance allergens —like amyl cinnamal, linalool and citronellol, among 22 others—in personal care products. Some of the Unilever products sold in the U.S. meet those standards now, voluntarily, but the company plans to expand those practices through all of its products. According to Ken Cook, president and co-founder of the watchdog organization Environmental Working Group, that's "an enormous win."
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"With this impressive display of leadership, Unilever has broken open the black box of fragrance chemicals and raised the bar for transparency across the entire personal care products industry—and beyond,” Cook said in a statement following Unilever's announcement. "It may not happen overnight, but Unilever’s watershed actions will place enormous pressure on the rest of the market to respond and make it very difficult for other companies to continue to shield their fragrance ingredients from consumers."
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