HOW TO MAKE LIQUID AIR FRESHENER (…best DIY formulations ever)

HOW TO MAKE LIQUID AIR FRESHENER (…best DIY formulations ever)

If you’ve ever lived close to a land fill, you can probably tell the volume of rain about to fall just from the poignant moving air that hovers around the land fill and it’s environs. The neighbourhood smells really bad, stale and un-fresh.

On the other hand, if you have been to a park to relax especially when the tree flowers are in their blooming season, you might be greeted to a cozy array of fragrances. I particularly love the strong scent of the Frangipani flower.

Odours are quite powerful and they sure do much work than science admits currently. In fact, in addition to other senses, humans have survived through the ages by relying on the sense of smell. The senses collect loads of information the brain then processes. Without them, the brain is just an intelligent machine with high potential yet without the necessary external connections, it is useless.

We associate odour with everything – the good, the bad and lovely. We are warned about any danger around our surrounding just by the power of smell. Some odour are appealing  while others make us cringe.

Generally, odour have been associated with memories, emotions, time, health status, life (remember when you thought you caught a whiff of something ‘dead’), even productivity (some people can relate to associating sleep and work time with certain smells in the course of the day) to mention a few. This makes the sense of smell highly significant to our perception to life.

As crucial as it is – the power of odour - we all want to be in an environment that foster great feelings of positivity like love, happiness…or maybe some don’t but I bet a vast majority of people do care about how their environment smell. Apart from what it does to one personally, odour makes a big impression on our social interaction and just like you, I’d go the extra mile to create that ambience that promotes this great feeling of energy, positivity and being to the best-of-ourselves.

So whether you are in the office or at home, in – or outdoors, the role of a clean, fresh and pleasant air is undoubtedly important.

Question is; as a city guy or lady, how do you escape from the stench and harmful air that constantly engulfs one whether outdoors or indoors? You’d agree if you don’t live in a cave away from the city life, you’d have to find ways creative and deliberate ways in keeping your environment clean and fresh.

You can foster a constant feel of freshness in your environment by ensuring adequate ventilation, removing the source of bad odours among others. Better still, you could invest a little more by deliberately creating the ambience you most prefer and this thus, brings me to the world of air fresheners. Those little colourful products of alchemy that do great magic, putting us in a state of warm receptiveness, energy and everything positive. Go ask experts in the important of odour (or scents) in the corporate environment.

What are air fresheners and how do air fresheners work?

You want to know how they work. Right? And perhaps how to make them in the simplest ways ever. In this article, I will be presenting you with information on liquid air freshener, how they work, how they are made and some other interesting stuff about them. Come, kindly join the ride. Lol!!!

When it comes to the sweet scenting world of air freshener (particularly the liquid-based ones), trust me! we did not just wake up to these items in the market stores.

Starting from its technological innovativeness employed to dispense fragrance, air fresheners like other well-known were originally a product of military technology but gradually evolved to its present-day commercial form. In today’s market place, you are likely to pick from an array of choices when it comes down to air fresheners. They come in these colourful and eye-appealing sprays, candles, oils, gels, beads and plug-in.

Air fresheners are primarily used to improve the quality of air we breathe. So you want to get rid of undesirable odours around your indoor space? Then that’s what the air freshener does by simple definition. Or else air fresheners have the added potential to cover up, neutralize and replace bad odour. But then again, some people use air fresheners just for the pleasant odors they emit.

So… how do air freshener work?  Scientific literature has pointed out various ways the air fresheners actually work. Some are in form of adsorbents (for example; zeolite, activated charcoal or silica gel) acting by sponging up (adsorption) the source of the odour. Others like ozone, hydrogen peroxide, chloride, chlorate act by oxidizing and removing organic sources of odours from surfaces and in the case of ozone from the air as well.

Some act as surfactants (the addition of texapon in household items like liquid soap, air freshener does this) or detergents, combining the potentials of emulsifying organic sources of odour (like oil) and cleanser. Some air fresheners work as air sanitizer, getting rid of airborne bacterial activity. Others just simply work by overpowering old, expired odours with a new freshener one.

So… what’s special about the liquid air freshener?

You’re probably used to some of the most popular brands sold by their diverse technology such as reed or wick diffusers, electrical plug-in devices, aerosols or sprays. By industry standard for instance, the common composition of the air fresheners in form of sprays include water (mostly de-ionized), fragrance, propellant among other components. This thus tells us that although apart from the slight differences in method of releasing the formulation, all air fresheners all have one fundamental thing in common – their fragrance.

These fragrances or sweet-smelling scents may be from natural origin (as in essential oil) or synthetic.

As part of the ingredients of the conventional air fresheners, there is the presence of propellants, oxidizing agents, disinfectants, preservatives to mention a few that have either been labelled toxic, carcinogenic and harmful according to different groups of independent researchers. For instance; a report issued in 2005 by the Bureau Europeěn des Unions de Consummateurs (BEUC) found that many air freshener products emit allergens and toxic air pollutants include benzene, formaldehyde (formalin), terpenes and styrene, phthalate esters and toluene. In addition, findings from a University of Bristol’s Avon Longitudinal study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) indicated a correlation between the exposure to volatile organic compounds through frequent use of air fresheners and other aerosols in the home and increased repots of ear aches and diarrhea in infants, and with increased depression and headaches in their mothers.

 In spite of mounting studies available on the effect of many of the harmful chemicals in many popularly-consumed household items, you can be sure a lot of these manufacturers really do not care about the acute and long-term effects of the harmful chemicals to the general public. Worst of this, is that do not even care to provide the public information on the effects of the product on short – or long-term application.

The role of the propellant for instance is to create pressure within the wall of the container of the air freshener and by the action of the actuator and spray nozzle, forced the pressurized liquid in form of aerosol out and into the air. Yet as great as the technology, one of its drawbacks is based on the use of the propellant, commonly used is the Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). From several research, CFCs have been implicated in the depletion of the ozone layer, thus promoting the effects of global warming.

So… you see friends, in addition to cost-friendliness, ready accessibility of materials needed for production, the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) air-freshener formula is still the best choice currently for its eco-friendliness. Who wouldn’t prefer for these benefits of the DIY liquid-based air fresheners?

The amazing aspect of this easy DIY methods is that you can do them yourself, without exposing yourself, loved ones and the entire world, those harmful synthetic biochemicals.

What exactly would you need?

I believe we would update this list progressively but these are the major materials you would need to produce your liquid air freshener. There include:

Alcohol – the role of Isopropyl alcohol for instance is to help in the emulsification process in your formulation. Remember oil and water does not mix. Therefore, the presence of alcohol serves as a mediator to help oil and water mix. Moreover, alcohol by its volatile nature, help your DIY formulation disperse well in the indoor space by a process of evaporation. Alcohol can also serve the role of a preservative and anti-microbial, making your formulation longer.

Spray bottle – to deliver or dispense your air freshener in tiny aerosols into your indoor space. You could use a coloured or colorless ones.

Essential oil – source of fragrance (more information available below). A little creativity wouldn’t be amiss here. You could add a mixture of essential oils to your own formulation.

Distilled or de-ionized water (devoid of impurities): basically, to make up the volume of your formulation.

Containers/Stirring stick/measuring device

Dye (optional) - If you are not trying to dye your wall and fabric, I don’t think you need this.

Some Do-It-Yourself (DIY) air freshener formula you could try out.

-          ¾ cup of water.

-          2 tablespoons of alcohol (ethanol, isopropyl alcohol etc.)

-          Add essential oil depending on preferences (see below)

Yes! I added essential oil among the ingredients needed for our liquid air freshener formulation. I assume you might want to know what the fuss is about the essential oils. So I would touch on it briefly.

Essential oils are concentrated liquids containing volatile aroma-producing compounds from plants. They are sometimes called volatile oils, ethereal oils or simply the oil of plant from which they were extracted such as oil of clove. An essential oil is ‘essential’ in the sense that it contains the ‘essence’ of the plant’s fragrance. Plants are an infinite source of compounds – essential fatty-acids, proteins (essential or non-essential) among others.

The great thing with essential oils is that typically they evaporate completely without leaving a stain or residue. Isn’t this great, right?!!! This means we do not have to be anxious about staining the walls…the fabric in the room.

Essential oils are generally extracted by distillation, often by using steam, although there are other improved methods available. They are used in perfumes, cosmetics, soaps and other products, for flavouring food and drink and adding scent to incense and household cleaning products.

Everyone definitely has a favourite when it comes to the way their immediate environment should smell. I tell you can work around using the fragrance from your favourite essential oil and employing it as an ingredient for your DIY liquid air freshener formula.

Where can we get the essential oils?

A lot of these essential oils, a crucial part of the air freshener can be purchased at the supermarket stores in Nigeria or you could place an order directly from on-line stores.

Production of liquid air freshener using easy DIY formula

For example; to make Citrus mint liquid air freshener: add 10 drops of wild orange essential oil + 8 drops of peppermint essential oil, in addition to the DIY formula listed above.

Sweet lavender liquid air freshener = DIY formula + 10 drops Lavender essential oil + 5 drops Chamomile essential oil.

Summer Citrus Liquid air freshener = DIY formula + 5 drops wild orange essential oil + 5 drops lemon essential oil + 5 drops lime essential oil + 5 drops grapefruit essential oil.

Cozy Holiday liquid air freshener = DIY formula + 6 drops wild orange essential oil + 5 drops cassia essential oil + 5 drops clove oil essential oil.

Flower Garden liquid air freshener = DIY formula + 8 drops lavender essential oil + 5 drops geranium essential oil + 4 drops grapefruit essential oil.

Happy Homestead liquid air freshener = DIY formula + 5 drops lavender essential oil + 5 drops lemon essential oil + 5 drops rosemary essential oil.

Deodorising liquid air freshener = DIY formula + 4 drops tea tree essential oil + 8 drops lemon essential oil + 6 drops Eucalyptus essential oil

Spicy Chai liquid air freshener = DIY formula + 4 drops Cardamom essential oil + 3 drops Cassia essential oil + 3 drops Clove oil essential oil + 2 drops Ginger essential oil.

Other things to remember

Since we are trying to make an environmentally friendly product, we want to use less of synthetic chemicals that could do great damage to your health. Remember we are trying to improve the air quality not degrade it. Lol!!!). Even if you use a synthetic compound, make sure it should be biodegradable.

Prepare your formulation with moderation in mind. Nothing too strong as to hurt yourself and loved ones. I mean, why would want to choke yourself for pleasure? Isn’t that weird in itself?

I hope this article was helpful? Let’s make the earth safe and better.

Cheers.

Author: ‘Dedoyin Shobo (Life science researcher, copyrighter, content creator)

Facebook: @shobo mayowa

Email: shobomayowa05@gmail.com.