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Is Your Febreze Air Freshener Making Your Family Sick? DIY Non-Toxic Room Sprays Fall/Winter Edition

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AFFFILIATE DISCLOSURE: In order for me to support my blogging and social media activities, I may receive monetary compensation for links to products from this post. However, I only recommend products that I personally love and use myself!.

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With the holiday season practically knocking on the front door, I am preparing my home for family visits. When I have company coming over, I like to vacuum my home and spritz it with one of my favorite aromatherapy concoctions to freshen up the air and make my space more inviting to guests. I used to be on the Febreze bandwagon, that is until I found out just how toxic their sprays really are. I was enraged to find out that an air freshener company that's slogan is "breathe happ," fills their products with bronchial irritants. No one is going to breathe happier with toxic chemicals that irritate the lungs.

Febreze contains over 85 toxic ingredients

It may seem like a harmless act, spraying an air freshener like Febreze, around your home, but instead of cleaning the air, these air fresheners are actually further polluting the air with toxins. Environmental Working Group did a study on over 20 cleaning supplies used in schools and found that many of these products contained a large amount of toxic ingredients that are not disclosed on the product's ingredients list. Febreze (Air Effects – Hawaiian Aloha) contained the third highest amount of air contaminants, coming in at 89, only three of which were disclosed on the label. Some of the most toxic ingredients are bronchial irritants (for a product that you are supposed to breathe in) that cause serious allergic reactions, asthma, migraines, cancer, and more! According to the EWG, these are the worst offenders on the list and some of their many causes, but there are more!

  • BHT - Neurotoxicity, Endocrine disruption, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Occupational hazards, Biochemical or cellular level changes
  • ACETALDEHYDE - Cancer, Developmental/reproductive toxicity, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Occupational hazards
  • FRAGRANCE - Neurotoxicity, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Miscellaneous
  • PROPYLENE GLYCOL - Cancer, Allergies/immunotoxicity, Persistence and bioaccumulation, Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), Enhanced skin absorption
  • 1,3-DICHLORO-2-PROPANOL - Cancer, Violations, restrictions & warnings, Occupational hazards

There's a better way to freshen the air

Never fear! You know I wouldn't leave you hanging after a diatribe like that, without giving you the option to make it yourself! Room sprays are the absolute easiest thing to make for your home. In it's simplest form, just water and essential oils can do a great job as an air freshener, but I like to add aloe vera gel and vegetable glycerin to mine for a more luxurious and longer lasting spray that doubles as a body spray. Essential oils are also a really great option because they provide therapeutic properties as well as great smells! Some essential oils actually have deodorizing properties to them, perfect for a room spray!

 DIY Non-Toxic Room Sprays

Most of these essential oil sprays are made at roughly a 4% ratio for the best room scent. I like to use some fruity scents that aren't able to be made as essential oils, and after some extensive research, I found Medicine Flower Flavors. They have a proprietary cold process to extract from the actual fruit, their flavors, not using any synthetically created flavors. They are also certified organic, and can be used in your water to flavor it (one drop coconut and one drop pineapple really give me a great tasting no sugar added Pina Colada water!), your ice cream, your coffee, and more! I use these flavors to make delicious lip balms, and even awesome smelling bodyand room sprays!

BASE SPRAY INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

  1. Combine witch hazel, aloe vera gel, and vegetable glycerin in your spray bottle.
  2. Add essential oils and add water to fill.
  3. Spray all over your house, pillows, your body, bedrooms, bathrooms, in the toilet, your car/car seats, dog beds etc. I like to spray wrinkly clothing that just needs a refresher, then toss it in the dryer with my wool dryer balls, for a fresh smelling "ironed" look!

Fall/Winter Room Spray Blends

If you would like to freshen your home with Spring/Summer scents, go here.

Take a Chill Pill

A very calming and soothing blend that smells delicious!

Pumpkin Spice

Get into the fall/winter season with this spicy blend that is enough to make your mouth water! The upside is this blend is also a great anti-germ blend to boot!

Euca-Citru-Licious

A refreshing pick-me-up during the dark days of winter, this blend it great to boost spirits and freshen stale air! (Not for use around children under the age of 10 yrs.)

Twilight Gypsy

A sweet and spicy alluring feminine scent, this blend is great for a romantic evening at home!

Celtic Faerie

This is my version of a certain bath and body store that carries a yearly scent called Winter Candy Apple. I used to love that scent, so i set out to make something like it!

Dreamcatcher

This is one of my favorite calming night time blends! I just love the way that coconut blends with sweet marjoram and lavender! It's such a delightful heady scent!

Harvest Moon

This is a sweet and spicy fall/winter blend that smells like just like my grandma's home during the holiday season!

Oranges & Clove

I just love the smell of pomanders during the winter time! It's one of my FAVORITE holiday blends!

Winter Woods

A fresh woodsy scent with a bite of cold. This would be a great gift for a bachelor or teenage boy (because you know that his bedroom probably smells gross!) It's not as girly as some of the other scents can be.

Woods & Spice & Everything Nice

This is a great spicy and woodsy scent! This would be a great gift for a bachelor or teenage boy (because you know that his bedroom probably smells gross!) It's not as girly as some of the other scents can be.

About Christina Anthis

Christina Anthis is a single mom, herbalist/aromatherapist, and author of bestselling books "The Beginner's Guide to Essential Oils," “The Complete Book of Essential Oils for Mama & Baby,“ and "There's Food on Your Face". Christina is passionate about essential oil safety and loves to share her DIY recipes for holistic health, natural beauty, and healthy whole foods cooking!

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