What are Allergens in Cosmetic Products?

People often ask what those strange ingredients are at the end of product ingredient lists. Of course they are referring to things like Linalool,  Geraniol,  Citral and others known in the industry as 'allergens'.

So what are these allergens?  Generally speaking allergens are substances that can cause an allergic reaction.  Anything of substance can be an allergen however in terms of the cosmetic industry they are referred to as specific common substances (generally fragrance materials) that are typically found in cosmetics.  A number of years ago the European scientific committee, after much research,  identified what they called the 26 common allergens and decided that it would be a good for all companies selling cosmetic products to list any of those allergens on the label so that the consumer would be better informed and protected.

The current 26 allergens are as follows:

Alpha-isomethylionone
Anise Alcohol
Amyl Cinnamal
Amylcinnamyl Alcohol
Benzyl Alcohol
Benzyl Benzoate
Benzyl Cinnamate
Benzyl Salicylate
Butylphenyl Methylpropiona
Cinnamyl Alcohol
Citral Isoeugenol
Citronellol
Coumarin
Eugenol
Evernia Prunastri Extract
Evernia Furfuracea Extract
Farnesol
Geraniol
Hexyl Cinnamal
Hydroxycitronellal
Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyd
Linalool
Limonene
Methyl 2-Octynoate

What does this mean?

As a result, in the EU cosmetic manufacturers are obliged to list any of the 26 allergens contained within a product if they are there at levels of or above 0.001% for leave on products such as creams or toners or 0.01% for wash off products like shower gels and shampoos.

These particular allergens just so happen make up part of the chemical structure of essential oils or fragrance materials. Essential oils are packed full of aroma molecules - these make up the natural scent of essential oils.  For instance linalool and geraniol both sound a bit scary but they are molecules you may find naturally in floral essential oils like Rose and Geranium and without them those plants would not smell as wonderful as they do.

Rather than listing individual essential oils, some companies prefer to just list perfume/parfum /fragrance as sometimes the essential oil list can be particularly long with complex natural or partially natural fragrances.  Seeing allergens listed at the end will show you in part that a fragrance is of very high quality or that it contains essential oils.

I think a product that smells good adds to the enjoyment of using them.  Having the allergens listed on the pack is unavoidable but on the up side these are the substances that help create wonderful smelling products and having them on the label also help inform my potential customers of anything they need to avoid.