What’s with all the Chemicals? Finally, a Sustainable Fragrance Brand—DedCool by Carina Chaz
No surprise here, most fragrances contain toxic chemicals—and yet we're still spraying away.
The unfortunate truth?
In the United States, companies are not required to disclose their full ingredient list.
Urea, a colorless crystalline compound produced in mammalian systems when proteins are broken down and excreted in urine, is one of the most common toxic ingredient found in our fragrances.
Others toxic ingredients include Ethyl Vanillin, Methylene dichloride, and—you guessed it—more chemicals that are difficult to pronounce. Moreover, these elements are harmful for absorption and are not biodegradable.
Enter DedCool, a fragrance company founded by Carina Chaz with an exclusive line of unisex, vegan, cruelty-free, and non-toxic fragrances.
Their goal?
To be transparent with their makeup and to educate consumers on the harms of "mainstream" fragrances.
Since she was a child, Chaz loved fragrances, and particularly masculine scents, so she cultivated a range of scent profiles. Today, DedCool functions as an extension of her fascination with male cologne as well as her belief that fragrance is an essential part of creating an identity.
"I come from a holistic household and have carried that on to my young adult life," Chaz tells Beyond The Interview.
"My mother was born on a farm on the Adriatic coast of Italy and solely relied on the gifts of nature. When my parents settled down in Los Angeles, you could say we were a little ahead of the trend—we lived a raw and organic lifestyle, from the food we ate to the sheets we slept in."
In fact, Chaz was never allowed to buy popular scents due to their ingredient makeup. So when she decided to create her own brand of fragrance, producing a green and non-toxic collection echoed that original tacit rule.
Carina Chaz
Like the fashion designer Stella McCartney from whom Chaz says she draws inspiration, she wants to inspire women to take on modern femininity and devote her career to promoting sustainable-vegan fashion.
DedCool scents are composed of the quality ingredients with all certified-organic extracts. Their compositions are free of animal ingredients and animal testing, parabens, phthalates, and carcinogens, among other things.
Today, DedCool can be found at Neiman Marcus, Ron Robinson, Free People, Riley Rose, Credo Beauty and other retailers.
But how exactly did Chaz break through such a competitive space?
"Two years ago, if you would have told me that DedCool would be in some of these doors, I wouldn't believe you. Fragrance is a huge industry that has been around for hundreds of years, and there are tons of big fragrance houses producing new scents every year," Chaz says.
DedCool, however, is one of the few brands playing in this space of green fragrance.
"Hopefully, our world is moving in a greener direction," she says. "Having DedCool stand on the shelves next to these iconic brands is a huge triumph for the world of beauty and wellness."
DedCool will be coming out with their newest collection—a playoff of their current scents, but a little more elevated: "We have created fragrances with the same intentions."
The new collection will only come in fragrance sprays that are a new 100 ML size.
The fragrances will have names as opposed to numbers and will start with limited release.