Years ago, I had an interest in massage therapy and aromatherapy. I took a one-year course in both subjects, and It took me a while to realize that I rather be receiving massages than giving them (: however, I did pick up a lot of useful information on the way. One of the things I learnt was how to combine essential oils together and their different properties.
The course really made me appreciate the importance of our sense of smell, with our olfactory nerve system being a very good indicator for good and bad substances to our health…heck, someone even invented an artificial nose! (you can read about it here- https://www.sniffphone.eu/).
Anyway, I really wanted to try and make a natural, essential oil-based home diffuser instead of purchasing the usual synthetic one. So, I did a little research on google and discovered a great article on wikihow, and then made a few tweaks.
What you’ll need:
- An empty glass container- any color or shape. I buy mine at the local dolar store.
- Coconut carrier oil- can be found at the local supermarket.
- Another carrier/base oil- such as almond oil or grapefruit oil which are relatively neutral in smell and inexpensive.
- 2-3 different types of essential oils- I really love scents that have a freshness to them, for example essential oils from the citrus family (lemon, lemongrass, orange, tangerine, bergamot, neroli) that I mix with lavender. Another great combination is vanilla (not really an essential oil but still can be bought as such) with lavender or patchouli.
- 70% rubbing alcohol.
- 5-6 reed sticks
My first tip would be to add 50% coconut oil, and 50% different carrier oil- I like both the smell and the consistency coconut oil gives to diffusers, however it’s expensive and seems to solidify faster when used on its own.
To simplify things, I usually pour 1 cup of carrier oil, and then add 3-4 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol. I usually just eyeball it. The alcohol helps the oils spread across the diffuser reeds and adds a lightness to the concoction.
My second tip would be that if you have a hard time finding reed sticks locally like I did, you can just purchase bamboo skewers at your local supermarket and cut them to your desired length.
Then I add the essential oils. Essential oils can be quite expensive. I like purchasing mine online at iherb.com in bottles of 30ml, so that they last for a few projects at a time. Just pay attention that they expire within in a couple of years. I like to add 120-150 drops of essential oils, usually a combination of 2 different citrus oils (for example 40 drops of lemon and 40 drops of tangerine) with 40-70 drops of lavender.
Use of the reeds to mix the oils together and voila! A homemade aromatherapy reed diffuser.
Just remember to turn the reeds upside down from time to time…you also may need to add some lemon or lavender after a few weeks to keep the scent going strong.
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