Low Cost Ways of Diffusing Essential Oils in My Bedroom?

December 12, 2017 6:23 PM

Looking for a method that would not involve buying an expensive nebulizer, burn my apartment down, harm my health or increase the humidity level.

I would like to diffuse essential oils within my bedroom for stress-relief and to discourage mosquitoes. I looked into nebulizers but they were way beyond my budget.

I am looking for something that ideally fits the requirements below:
not too expensive
not a fire hazard (I am not allowed to burn candles)
does not involve water (I live in a humid climate and further increasing the humidity level is not a good idea)
does not break down the oils and cause harmful byproducts (this rules out ones that work by heating the oils)

Do those terracotta aromatherapy discs work or are they a con? Has anyone experience with such discs? Some reviews complain the scent dissipates fast. My bedroom is fairly small so coverage should not be too difficult..

posted by whitelotus to Health & Fitness (12 answers total)

I have had a disc diffuser that was made of cork or some other soft wood and that worked fairly nicely.
posted by slateyness at 6:29 PM on December 12, 2017

Best answer: You can DIY a reed diffuser. You do have to buy a few things, but you may have some of the supplies around (and most of the stuff is cheap anyway).

I am not necessarily endorsing that particular tutorial, but I have had good luck with reed diffusers. They provide a constant low-level scent.
posted by darksong at 6:40 PM on December 12, 2017

I don't know how it would work for the mosquitos, but scent lockets are the most cost-effective way of using oils that I've tried. You only need a few drops, so it helps conserve the oils, and your body heat diffuses the scent, so there's no need for electricity or fire. They sell felt pads, but I've always just cut my own out of leftover fabric -- it's free! When I'm stressed, I wear the locket to bed -- it keeps the scent close to me and it's very soothing and relaxing.

You can also turn your oils into solid perfume and pour them into a locket, if you prefer.
posted by halation at 6:44 PM on December 12, 2017

Best answer: Buy a box fan. Buy a 20"x20" air conditioner filter and tape it to the back of the fan. Drop essential oils onto the filter. Now you have both an air purifier and an essential oil diffuser. In fact, if you use a HEPA A/C filter, it will work as well as an expensive air purifier.

You could probably hack this with a smaller fan and smaller filter. Not sure if it would be any cheaper though. Box fans are pretty cheap.
posted by MexicanYenta at 6:45 PM on December 12, 2017

Wouldn’t obstructing the back of the fan burn out its motor?
posted by delight at 7:05 PM on December 12, 2017

My doc who was a pulmonologist said the people sbould not inhale oils, it gives them interstitial lung disease.
posted by Oyéah at 7:32 PM on December 12, 2017 [4 favorites]

Do you have a table lamp? They sell brass rings that sit on top of a light bulb and you put a few drops of oil into it and the bulb heats it up and diffuses it.
posted by GuyZero at 8:04 PM on December 12, 2017 [3 favorites]

My doc who was a pulmonologist said the people sbould not inhale oils, it gives them interstitial lung disease.

Indeedy it does. Not good for your eyes either. Weird trend. Anyhow one of my friends has the lightbulb thing and it works well enough that I can't be in her house without my throat closing up so it's diffusing something far and wide.
posted by fshgrl at 11:40 PM on December 12, 2017 [2 favorites]

You could actually even skip the brass ring and carefully drop a couple of drops of oil directly onto the bulb (when the lamp is OFF, of course).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:04 AM on December 13, 2017

Maybe scenting your own potpourri would have a longer scent duration than terra cotta.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 9:26 AM on December 13, 2017

Wouldn’t obstructing the back of the fan burn out its motor?
posted by delight at 8:05 PM on December 12

Doesn’t seem to. Here’s a video.
posted by MexicanYenta at 10:07 AM on December 13, 2017

Response by poster: I am not in a position to buy a box fan right now but I may give the homemade reed diffuser a shot. I only have LED lamps in my apartment so the light bulb thing is not possible.

Oyéah: is there research on how essential oils cause interstitial lung disease? I searched Google Scholar but couldn't find anything.
posted by whitelotus at 6:32 PM on December 13, 2017