You'd think soap that smells like nothing would be the easiest thing in the world to buy. It isn't. Walk down any soap aisle and you'll find "unscented," "fragrance-free," "pure," "sensitive" and "gentle," sometimes all on the same bottle, and none of them mean quite what you'd hope.
So here's what those words actually tell you, what they don't, and how to find a soap that really has nothing added for scent.
Unscented and fragrance-free aren't the same thing
This is the part that trips people up. Neither word has a legal definition for soap or cosmetics in the US, so each company decides what it means by them. In general use, though, there's a real difference.
"Fragrance-free" usually means no fragrance has been added at all. "Unscented" usually means the product isn't supposed to smell like anything, which is not the same promise. Some unscented products contain a masking fragrance, added specifically to cover up the smell of the base ingredients. The FDA says so plainly on its own fragrance page, noting that even some products labeled "unscented" may contain fragrance ingredients.
So if no added fragrance is what you're after, fragrance-free is the better phrase to look for. And either way, the ingredient list is where the truth lives.
Reading the label
US labeling rules let companies list a whole blend of scent ingredients as the single word "fragrance" (or "parfum"), so you can't always see what's in it. What you can see is whether it's there.
- "Fragrance," "parfum" or "perfume" anywhere in the list means scent was added.
- Essential oils count too. Lavender oil, peppermint oil and the like are fragrance, even though they came from a plant. The FDA treats plant ingredients the same as any others.
- "Masking fragrance" is exactly what it sounds like.
- Botanical extracts and butters can carry a smell of their own without being added for scent. That's not a trick, but it does mean "no fragrance" and "no smell" are two different things.
A short ingredient list makes all of this a lot easier. When there are four things on the label, there's not much room to hide a fifth.
Why fragrance-free soap still smells a little
Pick up a truly fragrance-free bar and sniff it, and you'll notice it still smells of something. Mildly of soap, mostly. Sometimes faintly of whatever oils it was made from. Olive oil soap has a soft, clean, slightly green smell that some people love and some people don't notice at all.
That's normal, and it's actually a decent sign. A soap that smells of absolutely nothing has sometimes been given a little help to get there.
Who looks for unscented soap
All sorts of people, for all sorts of reasons. Some simply don't like perfume, or share a house with someone who doesn't. Some wear a cologne or perfume they love and would rather not have their soap argue with it. People with a new tattoo are usually told to use a plain, fragrance-free soap during aftercare. And plenty of people just like knowing exactly what's in the bar.
Some people look for fragrance-free products because of skin that reacts to things. If that's you, a dermatologist is the right person to help sort out what to use. A soap label can tell you what's in the bar. It can't tell you what your skin will think of it.
Is unscented the same as hypoallergenic?
No. "Hypoallergenic" is another word with no federal definition, so it's a marketing term more than a promise. A soap can be fragrance-free without being hypoallergenic, and a soap can call itself hypoallergenic and still list fragrance. Read the ingredients either way.
Our fragrance-free bar
We make one bar with nothing added for scent or color, our Castile Soap. It's 100% organic olive oil, made the old-fashioned way, and it smells faintly of olive oil soap and nothing else. The lather is small and creamy, which is how true olive oil soap behaves. If you'd like the long version of why, we wrote about what castile soap is.
And if you ever decide you'd like your soap to smell like something after all, well, we have opinions about that too. The rest of the soap shelf is right this way.