Hypoallergenic

Hypoallergenic is a marketing claim, not a regulated category. It suggests a product is less likely than a comparable one to cause an allergic reaction, but in most jurisdictions there is no legal definition of the word, no required test and no standard threshold a product must clear to use it.

What sits behind the claim varies. Some brands mean the formula omits a list of frequent allergens; some mean it was tested on a panel of volunteers; some mean the fragrance was left out. All of those are reasonable steps and none of them makes a product safe for a specific person, because an allergy is a property of the individual rather than of the formula.

• Fragrance-free and free of the declarable fragrance allergens are narrower, checkable claims that say more than hypoallergenic does.
• A full ingredient list is more useful to someone with a known allergy than any front-of-pack wording.
• Anyone with a documented reaction is better served by the specific ingredient name from a patch test than by a category label.

The claim is not dishonest, but it is not a substitute for reading a label, and it cannot rule out a reaction. Persistent or spreading reactions belong with a dermatologist, who can arrange patch testing to name the trigger.