Cleansers without essential oils

What this label means and how we count it

Essential oils are scent compounds distilled from plants — natural fragrance, in other words. They do not have to be declared as Parfum, so a product can be marketed as fragrance-free and still contain them, which is why this is a flag of its own rather than part of the fragrance flag. We look for citrus oils (names beginning Citrus), lavender (Lavandula), mints (Mentha), tea tree, eucalyptus, rosemary leaf oil, geranium, ylang-ylang, lemongrass, clove and cinnamon. The dictionary is published and applied as written; no product is judged by hand. A plant extract is not the same thing as an essential oil: an extract can be water-based and odorless, and we do not flag one. Only products whose ingredient list we have read are included — a missing list is not evidence of a missing ingredient. We do not claim essential oils irritate everyone.