With how bad for us the common fragrances are in regards to things like cancer risk, endocrine disruption, etc, its surprising that nothing has changed. Most products have fragrance free alternatives.
I once worked for a large consumer goods company. We had a conference about scents.
We saw a clear correlation between richer consumers and a preference for subtler scents or even no scent.
This even applied across countries: third-world consumers liked aggressive floral scents, but in Northern Europe and North America, the scents are way less concentrated and tend to be more toward subtle alpine or linen.
All this was 15-20 years ago; today I notice that no soap in my house smells like anything at all.
I'm a perfume fan (hobbyist? I don't know how to name it), and I wonder if this still holds. Nowadays, the "luxury" brands such as the Arab ones, and even the "western" European niche catering to the biggest spenders are making a lot of oud fragrances, gourmands, incense perfumes... Basically anything thick, dense, almost syrupy. They don't limit to this, of course, but ouds became much more common in the last years
There's a particular Middle Eastern market I visit where the cash reeks to high hell of cologne.
It turns out a few of the customers douse their dollars with their personal scents to remind everyone who's spending money with them, and I suppose to see where it might be circulating.
Can you recommend some fragrances or a brand that does some contemporary subtle forresty mossy but also is not crazy expensive posh branding endeavour?
I'm not entirely sure I understood your request, something foresty? Not a lot into those, anyway
Helan vetiver and rum, don't know if it's available in usa. Has a rum note as well as moss, I've definitely heard people around me saying it smells like forest, to me it's more of a mossy scent
Erbolario Periplo, but it's more Mediterranean bushes
Sauvage is a big ambroxan offender, a cold sharp metallic note that pierces the brains around the person wearing it, who clearly has no brain for damage to be suffered (/s)
Personally, I prefer neutral lotions and detergents because I wear my own cologne. It could be because
It could also be because we’re using more products. If my face moisturizer and sunscreen had different scents, that would be unfortunate. It would limit my options to those that went together.
I don’t normally want my face to smell like anything (again, cologne) but if I did I would choose only one product that’s scented. Probably beard oil.
I've noticed it is really, really hard to purchase unscented laundry detergent in certain regions.
Two different Krogers in the same Houston metroplex, one will have only scented slop while the other has no fewer than 3 unscented options front and center.
You can tell just by walking through the neighborhoods what kind of inventory the grocery stores are pushing. The Febreeze infused Tide is like a chemical weapon when put through a clothes dryer. You can smell that stuff for miles.
At least in the eu there are quite strict rules regulating cosmetics. Hell, lilial in perfumes was banned just to stay safe because they couldn't determine an "average exposure" and went on by banning it in perfumes to reduce what would have been the real exposure, even if it wouldn't have caused issues by being used in perfumes standalone (so not how it's used in cleaning products)
They might not be perfect, of course, and they're always improving
EU is much better than the US for ingredient safety. I'm not sure of the EU stuff specifically, but it looks like there's still some concerns over some perfume ingredients, if not the fragrance itself. You'll probably have to do more research yourself.
There's tons more than this, but here's some high level stuff. The most concerning part is that some of the 4000+ fragrances in use are known and suspected carcinogens.
They've been around for a while, but they were harder to find. Even as a kid there was stuff like arm and hammer washing detergent that was scent free. Although now there are at least 5 free and clear choices at the Walmart.
