Ah, the pure, unadulterated joy of wandering up and down the baby aisle—trying to make sense of which baby wipe might be best for dealing with pesky diaper rash, whilst reading through ingredient lists, and simultaneously calculating the exact amount of minutes remaining before your little human gets too tired, too hungry, or simply too over it.

All the product options—and the marketing of all those skincare and baby care (and especially baby skincare) products—can be confusing to say the least. For example: fragrance free, unscented, no artificial fragrances… these labels may sound generally the same, but they actually can all mean different things.

Especially if your baby has sensitive skin, it’s important to understand the differences and what’s inside the products you choose to use for them. For starters, let’s talk about one of the most frequently used (we’re talkin’ multiple times per day and night)….baby wipes.

The baby wipes used during diaper changes are actually considered a cosmetic product, which means, unlike diapers, they’re regulated as such by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (aka the FDA).

This does mean there are some guidelines brands have to follow for cosmetic labeling. It has to be truthful, not misleading, and needs to let the consumer know what’s in them and how to use them safely.

However, it’s not always as straightforward as those guidelines may make the labeling and marketing terms seem. According to the FDA’s websiteOpens in a new tab.,

“The law doesn’t require cosmetic products or ingredients, other than color additives, to have FDA approval before they go on the market.

Wipes are sometimes labeled as scented, unscented, or fragrance-free. The FDA doesn’t have regulations governing the use of these terms.

Typically, the word “unscented” on a cosmetic label means that the product doesn’t have a noticeable scent. But it may actually contain “masking” fragrance ingredients to hide the smell of ingredients whose scent may be unpleasant.

However, because the term “fragrance” refers to specific kinds of ingredients, cosmetics labeled as “fragrance free” should not contain any added fragrance ingredients. It’s possible that a product labeled as “fragrance free” may have a noticeable scent, either pleasant or unpleasant, resulting from other ingredients.

If a product contains fragrance ingredients, the list of ingredients must say so. Fragrance ingredients may be identified by name or simply as ‘fragrance.’”

Basically, a lot of ingredients can be hiding in the word ‘fragrance,’ so for starters, you can check the ingredient list to make sure it doesn’t say “fragrance” or “parfum.”

Things get trickier when it comes to fragrance-free vs. unscented baby wipes. Raw ingredients used in the wipes substrate (the fibers it’s made of) or the cleansing formula may naturally have a smell, sometimes those smells are not the most pleasant. So, companies will add scent maskers to basically hide those natural smells—these wipes still do have chemicals added to change the smell of the wipe, they’re just added to create a specific or proprietary fragrance as we generally know it. These wipes that potentially include scent-masking chemicals will often be labeled as ‘unscented.’

On the other hand, if a wipe is labeled ‘fragrance free,’ that means that no scent-masking chemicals were added, nor were any additional fragrance synthetic compounds. We generally prefer this option for our own babies!

However, if you choose a product that’s marketed as a ‘sensitive baby wipe’ but find your baby is still experiencing irritation even when using a product that is labeled ‘fragrance free,’ you might want to check the ingredient list for natural ingredients like essential oils and fruit extracts that are used to add natural scents (but can be a little too harsh for some babies’ skin to handle).

At Coterie, our product development team believes in a less-is-more approach to taking care of babies’ sensitive skin. That’s why both our Wipe and Soft Wipe are fragrance free, and also don’t contain any essentials oils. We focus on making a hypoallergenic, dermatologist, testing cleansing formula and using 100% plant-based fibers for an ultra-gentle cleansing experience you and your baby can feel good about. Many of us are parents ourselves, and we know how it feels to be overwhelmed by all the options, so we hope our products can make the diapering decisions a little easier for you and your family.