Homemade air fresheners

EO101: DIY Essential Oil Reed Diffusers: Homemade Air Fresheners

Now that I know better, commercial air-fresheners have become a thing of the past in our home!

Many times we use our diffuser, but these Reed Diffusers can be fun too and make great gifts for friends.

It's really easy to make homemade reed diffusers – you know, those little jars of scented oils with all the sticks popping out of them? Yeah, those…

There are five items you’ll be working with here and all of them can be sourced pretty inexpensively.

The Jars

You can pick up these jars from the thrift store or even some stores like World Market or Pier 1.

When choosing your jars, look for small, short jars with a narrow opening at the top. The smaller the opening, the slower your oils will evaporate. My jars had somewhat large openings but luckily, they came with cork tops, so I just drilled about a 1″ hole into the cork and voila! Smaller opening! If you have a narrow opening on a bottle you may not even want to use a cork.

Examples of jars you can repurpose for this project include old perfume bottles, small oil bottles, small vases, spice jars and shakers, etc.

The Reeds (Sticks)
Technically, you’re supposed to use reeds made from rattan because it contains small channels that help the oil travel up the stick to scent the room. You can use regular bamboo skewers from the dollar store. Or, you can also order them online from Bulk Apothecary. Just make sure your reeds are about twice as tall as your jars so they can distribute the scent well.

Carrier Oil (Base)
From what I’ve read online, it seems the most common carrier oils to use are safflower oil and sweet almond oil, as they are lighter oils that will travel up the reeds more easily. I had just picked up some inexpensive grape seed oil (a fairly light oil) the other day so that’s what I used. You’ll use about 1/4 cup of oil for each diffuser, depending on your jar’s size, so try to source inexpensive oil, even if you have to order it online. Along with my reeds, I also ordered some safflower oil to have on hand for the next batch.
If you can’t find these oils, or don’t want to use oils as your base, you may also use plain water as the base. However, your diffuser base will evaporate much more quickly. Also, you’ll need to add some alcohol to help the essential oils bind to the water (see note below).

Essential Oils (Fragrance)
This is where it gets fun! You can either play it nice and simple with one or two essential oils, or you can get creative and experiment with different oil blends to create all kinds of lovely aromatic concoctions. Many of Young Living’s single oil or essential oil blends would be amazing!

For your 1/4 cup of carrier oil, you’ll use about 10-15 drops of oil, depending on how strong or light you want the scent. Feel free to combine oils to tailor make your own fragrance. Some suggestions I would make are Lime, Basil or Lavender, Lemon, and Peppermint for a fresh uplifting fragrance or Frankincense, Cedarwood, Orange, and Vetiver for a more earthy grounding scent.

You can find essential oils right here on Essential Oils 101 -https://www.facebook.com/EO101 - Young Living Distributor 1577559

Alcohol
You’ll also add a splash of alcohol (about a teaspoon) to the oil mixture to help the oils travel up the reeds more effectively. You want as high a concentration of alcohol as you can get – at least 90%. You can use either perfumer’s alcohol, 99% ethyl alcohol, or vodka.

Enjoy!