There is a lot of focus these days on the safety of fragrances and the chemicals in them. IFRA, the International Fragrance Association, has developed standards for some fragrance components, suggesting maximum levels at which the component should be allowed. These are called “IFRA Standards.”
The standards are based on what types of risks are associated with the component (such as photo-sensitivity, toxicity, dermal irritation, allergic reactions, and reproductive harm). Starting several years ago the standards were updated to take aggregate exposure levels into account. In other words, the usage level is based not only on the direct exposure from a particular product, but also takes into account the the total potential exposure a consumer might have because they are using a multitude of products containing fragrance components. As a result, many of the maximum usage levels for restricted components were substantially reduced.
Standards
The IFRA standards include both synthetic (man-made) fragrance chemicals and chemical compounds found in plant-based materials. As of the 51st Amendment (2023), there are 263 fragrance compounds with restrictions, specifications, and/or prohibitions included in the IFRA Standards.
Each IFRA standard give chemical numbers, synonyms, and commercial names for the compound so it can be easily recognized. It includes a list of references used in making the usage determinations. Finally, each standard lists out the maximum usage rate for the compound in different types of products.
Complying with the IFRA Standard means that the amount of a restricted fragrance compound in a product is less than the maximum usage amount for that type of product.
Product Categories
The product categories are based on the level of potential exposure to the compound based on where the product is applied, how it is applied, and how long it stays on the body.
IFRA Categories
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Leave on products applied to lips. |
| 2 | Leave on products applied to underarm. |
| 3 | Products generally applied to the face using fingertips. |
| 4 | Fragrance products (perfume, toilet water) generally applied to neck, face and wrists. |
| 5 | Leave on products applied to the face and body using the hands (palms), primarily leave on |
| 5-A | Body lotion products applied to the body. |
| 5-B | Face moisturizers applied to the face using the hands (palms), primarily leave on. |
| 5-C | Hand cream products applied to the hands, primarily leave on. |
| 5-D | Baby creams, baby oils and baby talc. |
| 6 | Products with lip and oral exposure. |
| 7 | Products applied to the hair with hand contact. |
| 7-A | Hair permanent or other chemical treatments (rinse-off). |
| 7-B | Hair styling aids, dry shampoo, hair treatments (leave-on). |
| 8 | Products with significant anogenital exposure. |
| 9 | Rinse off products with body and hand exposure. |
| 10 | Household care products with mostly hand contact. |
| 10-A | Soap, cleaning products, fabric softeners with mostly hand contact |
| 10-B | Sprayed products (air freshener, insecticides) with potential leave-on skin contact |
| 11 | Products with intended skin contact but minimal transfer of fragrance to skin. |
| 11-A | Without UV exposure (Diapers, feminine hygiene pads) |
| 11-B | With potential UV exposure (scented socks, paper towels, napkins, toilet paper) |
| 12 | Products not intended for direct skin contact, minimal or insignificant transfer to skin |
Synthetic Fragrance Components
When you use a fragrance oil made primarily of synthetic fragrance components the manufacturer probably won’t tell you the percentage of each component in the fragrance oil. That’s their trade secret, and they don’t want to give it out.
Instead, you can get a “Certificate of Conformity of Fragrance Mixtures with IFRA Standards.” The introduction to the Certificate of Conformity says:
“This Certificate assesses the conformity of a fragrance mixture with IFRA Standards and provides restrictions for use as necessary. It is based only on those materials subject to IFRA Standards for the toxicity endpoint(s) described in each Standard.”
It will give you the maximum usage levels for each product category. It may also list the components that are subject to restrictions, but that information is optional.
Natural Fragrance Compounds
Natural fragrance compounds – those found in plant-based fragrances, such as essential oils – are more complicated to figure out. It takes some math to come up with the number, because, remember, it is usually a component of the essential oil, not the whole essential oil. That can dramatically affect the amount of the essential oil you can use.
How to Calculate
In order to do the math to calculate how much of an essential oil you can use in your product, you need to know several things.:
- What is the category for the product you’re making?
- What percentage of the restricted components are in your essential oil(s)?
- What is the maximum usage of that component for the product type?
- Are you within the maximum usage rate?
- Product Category
Use the chart above to determine the product type you are making - Percentage of the Component in Your Essential Oils
You may be able to get a breakdown of the restricted components from your essential oil supplier. If not, IFRA has compiled a spreadsheet of natural complex substances which details how much of each IFRA constituent is in each natural substance.
Look in the natural complex substances spreadsheet for each of the essential oils you are using and note down each restricted constituent and its percentage in each essential oil. You will probably have to unlock the spreadsheet for editing and sort by the essential oil name. - Maximum Usage Rate
Look in the IFRA standards for each constituent that is in the essential oil(s) you are using in your product. - Are You Under The Maximum Usage Rate?
You have to determine the maximum amount of the essential oil allowed, which is based on how much of the component is in the EO and how much of the component is allowed in the product. Once you determine the maximum amount of the essential oil allowed, you need to verify that you are using less than that amount in your product.This is where the math comes in.
Example Calculations
Let’s walk through an example.
Let’s say you are making a body cream or lotion, scented with geranium essential oil.
- The category for the body cream is Category 5A.
- From the Natural Complex Substances list, geranium essential oil contains these restricted components:
Constituent % in geranium oil cis-3-Hexenyl isovalerate 0.1 % Citral 0.5 % Citronellal 0.15 % Citronellyl acetate 0.5 % Geraniol 17.7 % l-Citronellol 21.1 % - From the IFRA standards, the maximum usage rate of each of these constituents in a body cream or lotion is:
Constituent % in geranium oil Max allowed in product cis-3-Hexenyl isovalerate 0.1 % 0.11% Citral 0.5 % 0.15% Citronellal 0.15 % 0.33% Citronellyl acetate 0.5 % 0.70% Geraniol 17.7 % 1.2% l-Citronellol 21.1 % 3.2% - Do the math to determine the maximum amount of essential oil you can use:
Note that if the percentage of the constituent in the essential oil is less than the allowed percentage, you could use 100% of the essential oil and not exceed the limit. So you don’t need to worry about those or figure them out. They are greyed out in the table below.
If you are using a spreadsheet to do the calculations, set the format of the Max % of constituent allowed and the % of constituent in the essential oil as NUMBERS (not percentage), and then set the format for the result (Max % of the essential oil allowed in the product) as a percentage. Otherwise, the decimal places will be wrong.
As you can see from the calculations, geraniol has the lowest maximum amount at 6.78%. Therefore, if you use 6.78% or less of geranium oil in your product, you will be within the IFRA standard for all the restricted components in geranium oil.
Essential Oil Blends
If you have several essential oils in your product, you must check to see if they contain the same restricted constituent. If so, there’s an additional step to calculate the amount of the constituent in the blend.
Example: You are making a body cream scented with a blend of 25% geranium oil and 75% lemongrass oil (East Indian).
Determine the percentage of geraniol in the blend from the geranium oil and the lemongrass oil.
Then you put that into your calculation for the amount of geraniol to get the maximum usage rate of the blend based on the percentage of geraniol in it.
A note about this particular example… lemongrass and geranium essential oils also contain geranial (also known as citral), a slightly different constituent. The maximum usage rate for geranial/citral is much lower, and lemongrass has a much higher percentage. As a result, if you were to do the same exercise for geranial, you’d find that the blend was only allowed at 0.48% … a VERY much smaller amount!
The Total Picture
If you want to get the exact data to be sure you meet the IFRA Standards, you need to do this with all of the restricted constituents in all of the essential oils you use in your product. Then, use less than the smallest allowed amount.
