Make your own natural air freshener

Today, I got into a taxi. It was a beautiful, clean and new taxi. An overwhelming smell of bubblegum air came over me as the door shut though and I was trapped. I asked if he had on of those ‘plugged in’ air freshener thingies on and he said no. It was like that when he picked it up for his shift and he couldn’t find where the smell was coming from.

I had to tell him why this was dangerous for him to be working in this environment for hours at a time with no fresh air. Pthalates are a very real threat on many levels and all products that contain synthetic scents, have them in there. They’re sticky little critters that make fragrances carry and last. They’re also used in plastic toys for elasticity, softness and bounce and things like plastic wrap and freezer bags. What they do to us is mimic our hormones and that is dangerous territory indeed! I don’t mean giving you a bad mood or something minor like that, I mean changing the shape of your baby boy’s genitalia while growing in the womb, type thing. (Reference: Slow death by Rubber Duck, 2009). Anyway, while I didn’t go into quite those details, I did convince him to make his own, to the point he was writing the recipe out at the traffic lights! Success.

Have a good think of scents we’ve been marketed over the years. “Alpine Fresh”, “Lavender Fresh”, “Ocean Mist”… Whatever any of those things smell like in real life, it sure isn’t what those fake  air fresheners smell like, is it?

Basically? Get cheap plastic toys out of the mix of your child’s toys and stop using cosmetics, air fresheners, cleaning products that have scents other than clearly labelled natural essential oils. You will have detoxed your home largely from pthalates. You might also like to suggest to your employer to choose an eco friendly bathroom timed spray as many of those are also toxic. If you need support as to how to replace anything you’ve thrown out, just hit the comments and ask. There are many amazing small businesses doing the right thing with toxic free products at the ready to help you swap to safe and gorgeous things! Then, of course, you can also get more savvy and realise you actually don’t need that many products and can make stuff yourself!

So, you still need an air freshener for the car, toilet, staff room, office or home?

Make one in 20 seconds.

 

Natural Air Freshener Recipe

Get a spray bottle at the ready.

Fill a measuring cup with

1/2 cup of water

1/4 cup white alcohol (gin or vodka is good for this)

20 drops total of your favourite essential oil, or blend of a couple you like.

Pour into spray bottle.

Done.

 

Do you make your own already? Are you more of an oil burner type?  What scent are you going to create? I have a lavender, rosemary and lemon one that I just love. A few sprays to the air and you’ve given a car or room a gorgeous, natural burst of fragrance.

If you fancy checking out more home cleaning recipes I did a basics post a while ago. Click here. You could also check out this site today I found thanks to my friend Jos, which is full of creative DIY cleaning recipes in the home made solution tab.  If you don’t clean your house, it’s still important to make sure natural stuff is used, as you and your family and breathing in the aftermath and touching the surfaces anyway.

Low Tox. Happy Bodies.

p.s if you want to know where that gorgeous orange, glass bottle spray is from? E bay of course!