What Does Fragrance-Free Mean?

Four Common Terms You’ll See on Labels

Scan the ingredient list of your favorite products and you’ll see a few words appear repeatedly. While it might be right for adults, the same doesn’t apply for kids and understanding the difference can make the shopping process easier. Here’s a breakdown of what terms mean and why it’s important to know the difference:

• Fragrance or parfum: The most common and for good reason: it’s a catch-all for any synthetic or natural scent compound. Due to U.S. regulations, a brand doesn’t have to disclose the exact ingredients that are used, making it tricky to figure out if something is potentially irritating.
  
  
• Natural or essential oils: Derived from plants, this theoretically sounds like the better option. After all, who doesn’t love the soothing scent of lavender, eucalyptus, or citrus? Yes, for most adults, but not so for kids. It’s actually the top allergen source. Natural doesn’t always mean safer or better.
  
  
• Unscented: By this logic it seems like “unscented” is the way to go, right? Nope. Just because a product smells like nothing doesn’t mean it can’t still contain fragrance. If anything, the brand used masking fragrances to cover up the base ingredients’ smell.
  
  
• Fragrance-Free: This is what you want! It means no fragrance ingredients were added for scent. These are key words to look for and only when it's backed by regulatory and toxicology confirmation. At Rini you can find our clinical results on the Safety Reports page, and should you want to deep dive even further, you can find more info on our  Formula Facts page.

How to Read a Label For Hidden Fragrance

Much like reading the back of a cereal box or your favorite snack, the same due diligence is required for your child’s skincare products. See the word “fragrance” or “parfum”? Avoid. Federal labeling rules let brands group an entire scent blend under one word, so this could mask over 50+ compounds. “Natural fragrance” is another pass, even if it's plant-based it can trigger a sensitivity. Words like lavadula, citrus aurantium, melaleuca, and eucalyptus are common ones to look out for and skip. Finally, “masking agents” on an unscented product means there are ingredients to neutralize odor.

Here at Rini all of our products are dermatologist tested, vegan, and nut-allergen free. Add to that we’re Leaping Bunny certified meaning no animal testing and EWG Verified®, which means it meets the strictest health and safety standards by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). Finally, we’re compliant with EU Cosmetic Regulation Annexes II–V (which ban phthalates, parabens, and formaldehyde-releasers). It’s a long list but it reflects our commitment to safe, gentle products so when we say fragrance-free, we mean it.