Natural air fresheners you can make

Monday, January 18, 2015

Most of the air fresheners on the market today contain artificial chemicals, volatile organic compounds.  Anything that is listed as “fragrance” as an ingredient, companies that make them are exempt from sharing exactly what is in that fragrance, even in cosmetics.

Studies have shown that air fresheners can contain acetone (what paint thinner is made of), acetaldehyde, chloromethane, and 1, 4-dioxane along with 20 more different VOC’s.  7 of these are regulated as toxic or hazardous under federal laws.

If you want to stay away from products that contain VOC’s, there are limited options today, but there are options.  You need to look for air fresheners that contain only essential oils.  Or you can make your own!

A simple diffuser is easy to make.  You need only grape seed oil (half cup), your favorite essential oil (5-10 drops), some wooden skewers, and a small bottle to put it in.  

You can also just add essential oil to your favorite potpourri to refreshen the scent.  Some of my favorites are eucalyptus, rose geranium, clove oil, jasmine, patchouly.

Different scents evoke different emotional responses.  For calming properties-chamomile, juniper, lavender, lemon balm, rose, ylang ylang.  Energizes-eucalyptus, grapefruit, lime, mint.  Memory-sage and rosemary.

If you want to purchase plug in fresheners, Aura Cacia is one the uses essential oils and you can get it on amazon.com.  Or you can purchase a scent ball that lets you add your own scent.  This gives a strong scent, but it needs to be refreshed often.

To get rid of odors in rooms, you can put out bowls of vinegar.  It will stink initially, but will get rid of odors in the room.

To get rid of odors in carpets, baking soda is a natural odor neutralizer.  Just sprinkle on the carpet, sweep in, leave overnight, and vacuum up in the morning.  The baking soda will take all the odors with it.  You can add your favorite essential oil(s) to the baking soda before using on the carpet.

I make up a spray of geranium, eucalyptus and lavender essential oil in water.  I spritz in my drawers, linens, and curtains.  Makes everything smell great!

Another option is to take your favorite essential oils or spices and put them water and heat in a small electric warmer or on the stove in a pot. 

For my car, I bought car scent diffuser.  I use clove oil in the car; it lasts a long time.  The one I have does not plug in-you just add the scent to the diffuser pad, but you have that option as well.

There are many different options to add healthy, natural, safe scent in your home or your automobile.