The Fragrance Problem No One Wants to Talk About

Fragrance is emotional. It’s memory. Comfort. Attraction. Nostalgia. The smell of clean laundry, grandma’s kitchen, your favorite person’s hoodie, or that one perfume that made you feel unstoppable. Scent matters.

But here’s the part the industry rarely wants to say out loud:

A whole lot of fragrance oils on the market are loaded with ingredients most people would never knowingly put on their skin or bring into their homes.

We’re talking about phthalates, parabens, and CMR substances — chemicals flagged for potential links to hormone disruption, reproductive concerns, or carcinogenic, mutagenic, and reproductive toxicity risks. And they’re not rare. They’re everywhere.

They show up in candles, soaps, detergents, lotions, wax melts, room sprays, and cleaning products. Often hidden behind one single innocent-looking word on a label:

Fragrance.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth:

A huge number of small makers don’t even realize what’s in the fragrance oils they’re using.

Some never learned how to read an SDS (Safety Data Sheet) or know that each fragrance has its own safety limitations for usage.
Some assume that if a supplier sells it, it must be safe.
Some simply trust marketing claims.

And yes — some know and look the other way because reformulating costs money, and safer alternatives can be harder to source or more expensive.

Profit margins are easier to protect than customers.

That’s the part that hurts.

Because most makers start their businesses out of passion — to create something beautiful, to support their families, to do something meaningful. But somewhere along the way, safety research is skipped, or complex chemical documents get ignored, or suppliers are trusted without question.

Meanwhile, customers assume handmade automatically means safer.

Sometimes it is.
Sometimes it absolutely is not.

The reality is that only a small handful of fragrance suppliers actually do the heavy lifting — removing or disclosing hazardous components, reformulating, updating documentation, and being transparent about safety limitations. That work costs them money, so not everyone bothers.

And customers? Most never think to ask.

We’ll research the safest car seats, read food labels, and compare cleaning products — but rarely do we ask what’s in the products we rub on our skin, wash our kids’ clothes in, or fill our homes with through candles and laundry scents.

Not because people don’t care.
Because they don’t know they need to ask.

And makers don’t always volunteer the information, or know that there IS information to volunteer.

The truth is, safer fragrance options do exist. Still, they require effort: reading SDS sheets, checking IFRA standards, understanding ingredient restrictions, and sometimes choosing to discontinue popular scents when safer alternatives aren’t available.

It means saying no to easy money sometimes.

It means caring more about long-term trust than short-term sales.

And customers deserve that level of care. Because when a customer chooses you, they are supporting YOU, and they deserve the same kindness in return.

So here’s the heart of it:

If you make products, ask better questions of your suppliers. Learn how to read safety documentation. Push for safer formulations.

If you buy handmade products, ask makers what they use and why. Transparency should never be a problem for someone who’s done the homework.

Because fragrance should bring comfort, not hidden risk.

And safety shouldn’t be optional.

Not for profit. Not for convenience. Not ever.

At Mad House Goat Soapery, we spend a lot of time not making products — because doing the homework comes first. Every ingredient and formula is researched before anything hits the shelves. If an ingredient audit turns up something we can’t confidently stand behind, it’s pulled until we can replace it with a safer option.

Ingredients, research, and safety standards evolve, and new findings sometimes change what’s considered acceptable. That’s why we routinely audit our ingredients — to make sure our products continue to meet the safety standards we set for ourselves and the people who trust us with their homes and families.

MUCH LOVE,

Jennifer, Owner MHGS