Friends, I'm going to get up on my fragrance-free soapbox here for a minute if you don't mind. But first, do not miss this important point: product developers are clever, consumers are busy, and greenwashing is everywhere.

Greenwashing in Skincare, Cosmetics, and Cleaners

Companies get away with greenwashing all the time. Greenwashing, a form of deceptive marketing used to persuade the public that a company's products, aims, and policies are environmentally friendly, is illegal. Yet there are so many loopholes.

Organizations like Greenpeace are out to stop the practice of greenwashing. In 2009, they launched a campaign to help consumers make better choices. The best way for you to make an informed decision is to simply do the research into companies you support with your voting dollars.

Skincare products without fragrance are harder to find but with a bit of determination, you will succeed. Favor fragrance-free products that are vetted by a reliable third-party, and learn to look beyond the hype. Trust me, you can do it. I am a sucker for a beautiful label, but I have found that pictures of bamboo and vague words such as "natural" are meaningless.

Don't worry, you can find non-toxic beauty products that are free of hormone-disrupting chemicals and preservatives. Although, if you've been wearing perfume or colognes all your life, you may feel naked without them!

Fragrance Ingredients and Toxic Chemicals

Let me state clearly if you want a product without FRAGRANCE, you will need to look for "fragrance-free" NOT "unscented."

"Fragrance" is an umbrella term that companies use to hide synthetic chemicals that you are trying to avoid. Using the term "unscented" is beyond deceptive, it's an outright lie! This trick originally provided perfume manufacturers the ability to conceal trade secrets. These loopholes were created only to protect their formula so that another company couldn't duplicate their particular scent.

Fragrance is not just one thing; it combines many chemicals. So while the label might read "fragrance," the product could be comprised of hundreds or thousands of different compounds. It stands to reason that this is why so often, people who experience allergic reactions to fragrances cannot identify any particular scent that triggers a reaction because there are so many.

Parfum manufacturers know this "fragrance loophole" in federal labeling law means that the ingredients added to provide a pleasant scent, or to mask a bad one, need only be listed under the generic term "fragrance."

Fragrance-free products are free of artificial and natural scents, including essential oils, chemical or masking fragrance, musks, and other chemicals. Whereas, unscented products may contain chemicals that neutralize or mask the odors of other ingredients.

Hence many of us end up purchasing products that aren't what we think they are.

Unintentionally Buying Products with Fragrance

Case in point: my husband purchased some trash bags that I could smell. I asked him if he knew he bought bags with fragrance and he showed me the box marked "unscented." He had tried, but because of this clever trick on the label, his purchase was unsuccessful.

The frustrating thing is that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt I can smell these bags, which smells like perfume. I can also feel a particular sensation when I breathe too close to those bags. The explanation for this is simple yet complex. They are treated with a "masking" fragrance.

Unless you have an ultra-sensitive sense of smell or multiple chemical sensitivities, you may not be able to detect the poison that is laced throughout these products. Of course, you can search the ingredients list of cosmetic products, cleaners, and personal hygiene products looking for the offenders, but it can be difficult to decipher.

If you are like many consumers, you might not smell anything at all because your sense of smell is already inundated with all the fragra...