57: How Synthetic Fragrance Wrecks Hormone Health and Fertility - A Conversation with Erica Hoke

Trying to conceive or preparing your body for pregnancy? This is a must-listen conversation.

In today’s episode, I’m sharing one of the most eye-opening interviews from The Mama’s Advice Vault event, featuring infertility coach and holistic healing advocate Erica Hoke. Erica shares her #1 tip for regulating your cycle and supporting fertility—and it might surprise you.

We dive into:

• Why synthetic fragrance is a hidden hormone disruptor
• The most important places to start when reducing your toxic load
• How conventional household and personal care products impact your egg quality and hormone balance
• What to look for on labels (and how to spot greenwashing)
• The truth about detox timelines and how long it actually takes to improve fertility

Whether you're actively trying to get pregnant, thinking about TTC in the near future, or simply want to better support your hormones, this episode is full of practical, empowering advice.

🧴 Grab Erica’s free resource: 10 Scented Products Wrecking Your Fertility 
 📚 Learn more about Erica’s work and connect with her on Instagram @infertilemomof4

This episode was originally part of The Mama’s Advice Vault: a podcast-style event where moms and experts share their best advice in 15 minutes or less.

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Transcript

Vanda:
Hey hey, Erica! What is your number one tip for moms-to-be who are trying to regulate their cycle and improve fertility?

Erica:
The thing I tell women who are trying to get pregnant is to ruthlessly eliminate synthetic fragrance from all their personal care products and household products.

Vanda:
That’s such a good tip. I think we’re talking about it more now than ever, but I know when I was growing up—through my teenage years and early motherhood—nobody was talking about this.

If someone’s just getting started and hasn’t really heard about this before, do you have a method? Do you recommend starting with certain products and slowly replacing things—or going all in and eliminating everything at once?

Erica:
I like to follow the Big Rocks method. Start with the big rocks first—those are usually the easiest and have the biggest impact.

For example, laundry products. Laundry is a big one because you’re in your clothes or on your sheets 23.5 hours a day. That means something with synthetic fragrance is touching your skin almost constantly.

Vanda:
So true!

Erica:
And just to back up a bit—why this matters is because a lot of us grew up thinking our skin was a barrier. That we could put lotion or sunscreen on and be protected. But our skin is actually an organ—our largest organ—and it absorbs everything that touches it.

Laundry detergent, fabric softeners, dryer sheets… those are huge sources of exposure. So I always say start there. After that, go for things that aren’t emotionally hard to let go of. If you’re really attached to your facial moisturizer, that’s fine. Start with your shampoo, body wash—things that also touch a lot of your body but are easier to swap.

Vanda:
That makes so much sense. Can you explain more about how this affects egg health and fertility?

Erica:
Absolutely. When synthetic fragrance is absorbed through your skin, it introduces hundreds—sometimes thousands—of chemicals into your system. Synthetic fragrance can contain up to 1,300 different proprietary ingredients. So when your label says “fragrance,” it’s not just one thing. It’s a cocktail of endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

These disrupt your hormones and overwhelm your liver and kidneys, which play a huge role in hormone regulation. If you’re constantly layering on fragrance, it becomes harder for your body to keep up. That can affect your natural cycles, hormone balance, and even the success rates of fertility treatments.

Vanda:
Wow. That’s such powerful information. I’d love for you to share more about reading labels, because that can be super overwhelming when you're just starting out.

Erica:
Yes—and I meant it when I said you have to be ruthless. Ignore the marketing on the front of the bottle. The only way to tell if a product is truly naturally fragranced is to flip it over and look for the Latin name of an essential oil in the ingredients list.

If it just says “fragrance” or “naturally derived fragrance,” that’s still a synthetic. The only way to know it’s a real essential oil is if it says something like lavandula angustifolia (lavender oil). That’s your clue. Otherwise, you’re still getting synthetic ingredients.

Vanda:
So good. And for women who are thinking, “Oh no, I use all the synthetic fragrance,”—what’s a realistic timeline for their body to recover or adjust once they start removing these things?

Erica:
Great question. It takes about 90 days—three full months—for your body to create new eggs from start to finish. That’s the detox window we typically look at when assessing whether changes you’re making are having a real impact on egg quality and hormone health.

Vanda:
That’s so helpful to know, because I think many women expect changes to happen right away. And when they don’t get pregnant that first month after making a change, they think something must be wrong.

Erica:
Yes! We all want instant results. But the truth is: what you’re doing today will impact your body 90–100 days from now. That’s the timeline you want to focus on.

Vanda:
Erica, I could talk to you about this all day. Thank you for sharing such helpful, empowering advice. Before we wrap up, can you let listeners know where they can grab your free resource and learn more from you?

Erica:
Yes! You can head to ericahoke.com. That’s Erica—E-R-I-C-A—Hoke, spelled H-O-K-E. I like to say it’s “hope with a K.” Right on the homepage, you’ll find my free guide: 10 Scented Products Wrecking Your Fertility. 

Vanda:
I’ll be sure to link all of that in the show notes. Thank you again so much, Erica, and thank you to everyone listening. Talk to you soon!