This has been on my mind for a few days now. We were watching a bit of commercial television the other night and I was amazed to see an ad for an air-freshener that automatically dispenses a fine mist of 'fragrance' into the room whenever you walk in the room. Now, these ads may have been around for a while but ABC and Buffy DVDs don't show them so I'm a bit out of the loop. It just seems so wrong! I don't feel comfortable with my children entering a room and having chemicals sprayed all over them. Has no-one heard of opening a window to clear the air? The whole consumerist aspect of "you need this" does my head in sometimes.
End of rant.
I was given a reed diffuser as a Christmas gift a few years ago and loved the fragrance. It was super subtle but effective. After looking at the price of buying a new one I decided making my own was probably to way to go. After looking around I found a great tutorial by My Green Australia a few months ago. I realise that the initial outlay is quite a a bit but there is enough raw materials to make quite a number of these. They would make a great gift too.
With the combination of tangerine essential oil, safflower oil and a little vodka (I hadn't bought a bottle of this in about 15 years) I now have a homemade reed diffuser sitting in my bathroom. Quite a few of the different tutorials even mention using bamboo skewers and these seem to be working perfectly.
I am really happy with the end result.
Take care
Rant away. I'm with you I can't think of anything worse than being somewhere sprayed with chemicals so that area smells nice. Thanks for posting the link for the tutorial. I'm going to have a play at that. At the moment our choice of fragrance is citronella oil to keep the mosquitos away :-( but it would be nice to smell something different. Popped over from Rhonda's blog and I'm so glad I did.
ReplyDeleteReed Diffuser, nope, it seems I'm the one out of the loop. I hadn't heard of them before, but duh, now it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteThose squirty things are ridiculous. We stayed some where once and were quite concerned there was someone very close to our room who kept sneezing quietly. The culprit was in the bathroom.
Calidore, I hadn't thought of making one with citronella to have outside to keep the dreaded mozzies away. So glad you popped over too.
ReplyDeletecityhippyfarmgirl, I have also head that a company is making these sprayers with insect repellant. Yuck! It also concerns me that these must need some sort of power source for them to work. I must say it is great to be able to choose exactly the scent you want when you make your own.
Hope you both have a great weekend. ; )
It sprays every time you enter the room??? Oh yuck. Bleh. The more I think of it the worst it sounds.
ReplyDeleteThe reed diffuser is very cool. I'd never have thought of that!
Marie, it certainly does spray when you walk in the room. Some even spray at regular intervals, like they are on a timer. I am pretty sure that there are a few companies making them. Just Google 'automatic airfreshener'.
ReplyDeleteOh yuck indeed! I got squirted with one in the bathroom at work and I felt sick from it all day. Either that or the dodgy salad I had for lunch! :) ...still it just can't be good for you (or the environment)!
ReplyDeleteLove your diffuser solution. Do you think it'd work with red wine? ;)
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ReplyDeleteMrs Bok, Oh, red wine. What a wonderful suggestion. I like the way you think. ; )
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea! I make my own spray air fresheners but I'm going to have to make this too! Next time I make some I'll put it on the blog. May I link to this post?
ReplyDeleteHi Mary. I would love to read about your sprays and fresheners. I am thinking that I will add a little more vodka as this is supposed to help to capillary action of the scented oil up the reeds or bamboo skewers.
ReplyDeleteI would love you to link to my blog. : )