The first thing I ever cut out wasn't a skincare product. It was aluminum.
Not all at once, and not because of one single moment. It was more like a slow realization. I stopped cooking with aluminum pans. I looked twice at deodorant. I started noticing which foods had aluminum-based additives in them, things like baking powder and some processed cheeses.
I was doing this research not long after I lost my grandmother and two aunts to dementia. Aluminum exposure is one of the things researchers have studied as a possible piece of the puzzle, and I want to be honest with you about where that science actually stands: it's not settled. Large, well-designed studies haven't found a proven causal link between aluminum and Alzheimer's, but some more recent research has still found an association worth paying attention to, even while stopping short of calling it a cause. Most researchers agree it's likely one factor among several, if it's a factor at all.
I didn't need certainty to make a change. I just decided that where I could reasonably reduce my exposure without much trouble, I would. That's really where all of this started for me.
What "Fragrance" Is Allowed to Hide
Once I started reading labels more carefully, I ran into something that surprised me: the word "fragrance."
Under U.S. law, companies aren't required to list out the individual chemicals in a fragrance blend. The FDA treats fragrance formulas as trade secrets, protected under the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act. That means a single word, "fragrance," can legally stand in for dozens of individual ingredients, and none of them have to be named.
It's not that every fragrance ingredient is something to worry about. It's that you have no way of knowing what's actually in there, one way or the other. That lack of information is what bothered me most, more than any single ingredient.
Three Questions I Ask Before I Buy Anything Now
I'm not trying to make anyone paranoid about their bathroom cabinet. I just started asking a few questions before I buy personal care products, and they've served me well:
- Can I picture every ingredient on this label? If most of them are unrecognizable or vague ("fragrance," "other ingredients"), I look a little closer.
- Would the company tell me more if I asked? A brand that's transparent about sourcing and formulation usually says so without being cornered into it.
- Am I buying this because it works, or because of what the packaging implies? Marketing language isn't the same thing as an ingredient list.
None of these questions require an advanced chemistry degree. They just slow you down enough to actually look.
Why I Started Making My Own
This is also why Misty Creek Acres exists. I got tired of squinting at labels and guessing, so I started making my own products where I control exactly what goes in, and exactly what doesn't.
My Meadow Rose Salve is a good example; a short, plain ingredient list, nothing hiding behind the word "fragrance." I'm not saying every "clean" label on the market is trustworthy just because it says so, and I'm not saying mine is the only honest option out there. I'm saying I built the thing I was looking for and couldn't always find.
Curious what a genuinely short ingredient list looks like? Shop the Meadow Rose Salve and see for yourself or just start reading labels a little differently next time you're at the store. Either way, I'd call that a win.
Sources: FDA — "Trade Secret" Ingredients; FDA — Fragrances in Cosmetics