As you walk into a corridor, you whiff in the redolence of your skin. At times, people tend to remember a certain person according to the scent of their skin that marks their arrival even before they enter a room. But not all of us can use these alcoholic perfumes due to the sensitivity of our skin-types.  

Dr. Surjit Mehta, Consultant, Dermatology department at Fortis Hospital comes across patients vulnerable to perfumes. “Certain sensitive-skinned patients get allergic reactions that may also lead to oozing or blushes formation. In that event, we either advise them to use Calamine lotion,” says Dr. Mehta, adding that for the ones who want to carry on using fragrances, we advise “organic fragrances may also cause irritation but the
possibilities are way less when compared to alcoholic/ synthetic fragrances. Moreover, this reaction is less severe than the alcoholic one. ”

Sami Sheik has a similar story, “I like to buy my girlfriend a lot of perfumes but she wouldn’t ever settle for an alcoholic one because of her extra-sensitive skin. So, all my hard work would end up lying shelved in her cupboards without her ever using them.”

Off late, they discovered “organic and alcohol free versions of fragrances at L’occitane. They even had small balm-like solid perfumes with varied fragrances such as green tea, peony which is a flower found in Provence and cherry blossom.” It all comes in a take-away tin priced Rs 650. And Sami gets to splurge as much as he wants to without worrying that his girlfriend would catch an allergy because of it. These tins are compact so they can be carried anywhere and used for touch ups throughout the day.

When Metrolife spoke to another organic lifestyle brand Body Shop about it, the operator in Saket confirmed, “We do not offer alcohol free solid-base perfumes but we do have alcohol-free organic perfumes in liquid form. These are perfumed oils such as White Musk, Jasmine, White Lilly, Japanese Cherry and Rose.” She added that there is always an outpour of demand for this particular range of perfumes. Metrolife bumped into Prachi Kaistha, a regular user of this particular range, who says, “At Rs 795, it’s quite a deal. The fragrance lasts for four to five hours a day but you just have to use a single drop over your wrist or throat at a time.”