Homemade Air Freshener Spray with Essential Oils
Regular air fresheners are full of harmful chemicals that can cause headaches, nausea, and long-term health damage, but homemade air freshener sprays with essential oils are very easy to make!
I’m not sure if it’s because I don’t use chemical fragrances in our home, or just from not being a teenager anymore, but I’ve become increasingly sensitive to artificial, chemical fragrances.
Being in a room with an air freshener plug-in, frequent hits of commercial room sprays, or even strongly scented candles can quickly leave me with a headache. In fact, these fragrances can actually be considered an indoor air pollutant, regardless of how nice they might smell at first.
Thankfully, avoiding these chemical fragrances doesn’t mean that we have to be without nice smelling room sprays. Making homemade air freshener sprays with essential oils is a great way to add nontoxic fragrance to a room.
I just mixed up a couple of these sprays to use in our church’s restrooms. Little by little I’m trying to eliminate the chemicals we use there, and this was a really easy replacement.
It took me less than 1 minute to mix up each bottle using ingredients I typically always have on hand. It really can’t be simpler!
Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this post. That means if you purchase through a link, your cost is the same, but my work here is supported by a commission. Thanks!
Homemade Air Freshener Spray with Essential Oils
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (2 oz) filtered water
- 1/4 cup (2 oz) vodka
- 15 drops essential oil(s) of choice
Instructions
- In a non-reactive 4 oz. spray bottle (like these), combine the water, vodka, and essential oils, then shake well.
- Label the bottle with the scent, made on date, and a reminder to shake well before spraying. You can use masking tape or blank return address labels for labeling. I like the address labels best.
Essential Oil Combination Suggestions
The essential oils you choose are really a matter of preference. If you only have a few oils in your starter collection, you can simply use one oil in your air freshener or combine a couple that you like.
Another thing to consider when blending is whether an oil is a top, middle, or base note. That sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. It just has to do with how quickly the oil’s scent dissipates, so mixing a top note oil with a middle or base note can help the scent linger.
Citrus oils tend to be top notes. Some warmer oils, like cinnamon, are often middle notes. Woodsy scents are typically base notes, but in all of these, there’s variation. This also has nothing to do with safety or how pleasing a particular fragrance is, so there aren’t hard and fast rules when blending by notes.
If you aren’t sure where to start, try some of these combinations and then tweak according to your preferences:
- Lavender Deluxe- 8 drops lavender, 2 drops ylang ylang, 5 drops lemon
- Citrus Herb & Spice- 2 drops peru balsam, 2 drops rosemary, 2 drops cinnamon, 9 drops sweet orange
- Soothing Citrus- 4 drops red mandarin, 4 drops bergamot, 7 drops lavender
- Lemon Herb- 5 drops lemon, 5 drops rosemary, 5 drops peppermint
- Gentle Blend- 7 drops lavender, 5 drops Roman chamomile, 3 drops ylang ylang
Though there are various sources for quality essential oils, the majority of mine come from Mountain Rose Herbs, Plant Therapy, or Florihana (available through Tropical Traditions).
How do you like to fragrance a room naturally?
I like the Lemon Herb recipe with the lemon, rosemary and peppermint. I’m going to use it in my bathroom! Thanks for the tip.
That would be a great one for the bathroom! Very fresh and clean. Enjoy!
This is so awesome! I’ve been wanting to make something like this for a long time!!