My daughter gave birth to my second granddaughter at the beginning of July and my family flew out to BC to spend a week with her and my two granddaughters. Because she lives on a remote island, we decided to rent an Airbnb house for us all to stay in on Vancouver Island. The house was spacious, clean, and all the amenities a family could need. It was perfect except for one MAJOR issue: it smelled to high heaven!
I’m not talking the kind of smell that would be considered unacceptable by most – stale clothing, body odor, sewage back up. Those would have been preferable. I mean, at least they are natural. No, this house absolutely wreaked – as in smells wafting from the house as soon as you opened the door – of synthetic fragrance. Scented candles, Air Wick plug-ins, Febreze sprays, synthetic fragrance oils…you name it, this home had it. We scoured the house looking for every possible scent-producing item to remove them and put them in the garage.
But, even then, the scents continued. We quickly discovered that the laundry room was a huge source of the smells. Strong synthetic scents oozed out of every towel and linen in the house. I washed the sheets on our bed three times – with vinegar and baking soda – and I still couldn’t get the scent out! I found the source of our laundry struggles when I found, in addition to the scented detergent and dryer sheets, a laundry product called Unstoppable – designed to keep the scent in your laundry for seemingly forever. I felt like we were fighting a losing battle on a battleground that I literally couldn’t escape.
We kept the doors and windows open, even when it was chilly, because we all just craved fresh air, or at least non-toxic air.
Perhaps I live a sheltered life when it comes to the area of synthetic fragrance addictions, but I was absolutely gobsmacked that
a) people actually like their house smelling like that (this was a house that was the personal residence of the people who rented it during the summer), and
b) people are so out of touch with the dangers of synthetic fragrances.
It’s no wonder that, by the second day, I had a low-grade headache, sore throat, and respiratory discomfort that stayed with me for the remainder of the trip. I could deal with it, but I was especially concerned about my newborn granddaughter.
It’s sad that people are choosing to cover over perfectly harmless odors at the cost of their health. And, the thing is, you don’t have to just resign yourself to having a smelly home to preserve your health. People tell me all the time how amazing my home smells. And, guess what? No one is getting sick from the scents in my home. In fact, it’s absolutely impossible to smell an essential oil and not benefit from it emotionally, mentally, and/or physically.
The main way I make my home smell amazing is by diffusing. Diffusing essential oils is super easy and extremely beneficial. I have one or more diffusers in every room in my house – even my bathrooms! But even with just one diffuser, you can made a huge impact on both the smell of your home and the emotional, mental and physical well-being of those in your household AND those who visit.
There are two main kinds of diffusers: those you run for a certain number of hours with a combination of essential oils and water and those that run automatically with an entire bottle of essential oil screwed into the unit. The first type includes (Laluz diffuser, Petal diffuser, and the Dawn Humidifier) and the second type includes our hugely popular Bubble and Myst diffusers.
Whichever type you choose, experiment with different oil combinations to give you the effect you are looking for. I tend to default to these:
For the living room, I choose uplifting blends that often include florals and citrus (like Wild Orange and Lavender), or warming blends that evoke a sense of homey coziness (like On Guard, Cinnamon, Ginger and Frankincense).
For the main entryway and bathroom, I choose bright fresh scents (like Spearmint and Lemon or Lime, Wintergreen and Wild Orange, or Citronella).
For the bedroom, I choose calming oils (like Vetiver, Lavender, and Serenity).
As for my laundry, it always smells amazing! I simply add drops of oil onto the dryer balls I keep in my dryer. I love using fresh scents like Lemongrass or Purify and, recently, I discovered a new favourite: Citronella! I kid you not. I happened to have a bottle of citronella close by when I ran out of my usual dryer ball oil, so I decided to give it a shot. I absolutely loved the smell of my laundry afterward. Plus I got an added benefit: Citronella is an insect repellant, so when I wear my freshly laundered clothes outdoors, I get an added repellant boost to the Terrashield spray I use all over my body. And, when my clothes are drying, the smell of citronella is being pumped outside my house – warning would-be biters that they should keep away!
Although I’m not opposed to natural odours, I really do prefer nice smells. I just love that, in this case, I truly can have the best of both worlds: great smells AND great health!
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