Essential Oils for a Healthy Home
By Kim Boomhower, LMBT
Want to clean green and not break the bank? Read on! In this article I discuss why conventional household cleaners and fragrances (even some more expensive store-bought ‘natural’ ones) can do more harm than good, and discover simple, affordable solutions to get rid of the toxins in your home while keeping it clean and beautiful!
Why Conventional Cleaners and Home Fragrances Do More Harm Than Good
The average household contains anywhere from 3 to 25 gallons of toxic materials, most of which are in cleaners. Currently there is no law requiring manufacturers of cleaning products to list ingredients on their labels or to test their products for safety! They are, however, required by law to include label warnings if harmful ingredients are included (ie: ‘Caution: harmful if swallowed’).
There are 3 basic categories into which most of the ingredients in conventional cleaning products and home fragrances fall:
Carcinogens: carcinogens can cause cancer and/or promote cancer cell growth.
Endocrine disruptors: endocrine disruptors can lead to numerous health concerns including reproductive, developmental, growth and behavior problems.
Neurotoxins: neurotoxins alter neurons, negatively affecting brain activity.
The worst of these, and the most common, are ammonia, bleach and formaldehyde. Formaldehyde can, surprisingly, be found in many common household products, especially in air fresheners.
Another common occurrence in homes is overuse of anti-bacterial cleaners and hand soaps. While the advent of anti-baterical products has helped us come a long way in disease prevention, it has also tended to be over-hyped in the media and therefore over-used in the household. This contributes to ‘super-bacteria’--strains of bacteria that are resistant to antibacterial products. Our homes should be clean but not ‘sanitized’. Think of the difference in your home versus the hospital. The hospital is a place where you’d definitely want things to be sanitized to prevent spread of bacteria and disease. Your home however typically doesn’t harbor as many different people (and germs), so doesn’t need to be ultra germ-free.
What to do? Essential Oils to the Rescue!
Essentail Oils (EOs for short) can clean our homes, freshen the air and make us feel better at the same time. Not only do they add cleaning power and smell great, but they can also have very effective therapeutic value when used correctly. You can make safe and effective natural household cleaning products using a few essential oils and natural ingredients that you probably already have at home: white vinegar, baking soda, fresh lemons and water. Making your own cleaning products is not only the cleanest, greenest solution, but is also the cheapest! A multipurpose cleaner using water, vinegar and a few drops of essential oil in a spray bottle costs less than $2--most of which is the cost for the bottle. Clean and re-use a spray bottle you already have, and the cost is less than fifty cents!
Using Essential Oils Safely in the Home
Essential oils are highly concentrated oils of plants and resins. Their high concentration makes them very effective--and very powerful. That being said, some caution should be exercised when using essential oils in the home. The following are important safety guidelines when using essential oils:
The first thing to remember when using essential oils is that a very little goes a very long way. All of the recipes you’ll find below use a very small ratio (in drops) of EOs. Be careful when using essential oils in the home with babies and young children, pets and pregnant woman. Babies’ bodies haven’t fully developed, therefore, are very sensitive to essential oils. Avoid using EOs in rooms where your babies and young children spend time. Pets’ (especially cats) sense of smell is more highly developed than humans’, which makes them highly sensitive as well. Using EOs in the home is OK, as long as your pets have a way of getting out of the room the EOs are being used in if the smell is too much for them. Avoid using EOs in a room with pets in cages that can’t get up and leave the room (aquatic animals are OK). Pregnant woman are also sensitive to essential oils. Partly because of their precious cargo, and partly because of the hormonal and chemical changes that naturally occur during pregnancy. Avoid using EOs if you or someone in your household is pregnant.
As a general rule of thumb, if you smell an essential oil and it’s revolting, makes you sneeze, cough or your eyes water, it’s a very good indicator that your body doesn’t want it around. Always dilute essential oils in any usage and never apply to open wounds or take them internally.
Essential oils can be purchased at Whole Foods, online or at many other health stores. A good place to learn more about essential oils, their usages and safety is www.LovingScents.com. Cynthia Loving is the owner and a Master Aromatherapist in Greensboro, NC. The following is a basic list of essential oils that are effective for cleaning and making your house smell great and helping you feel better, too:
Essential Oils for Cleaning:
Cedarwood
Eucalyptus
Grapefruit
Lavender
Lemon
Lime
Orange
Oregano
Peppermint
Pine needle/spruce needle
Tea tree
Essential Oils for Therapeutic Home Fragrance:
Use essential oils with an electric essential oil warmer (a plug-in that warms a small cotton pad with 5-10 drops of EO), a tealight warmer (a tea light candle on the bottom which warms water and 5-10 drops of EO on top), 5-10 drops of EO on a simple terracotta garden pot dish, or as a room spray (recipe below). Essential oils are effective for treating all kinds of conditions and complaints. If you have a medical condition that you’d like to treat with aromatherapy, please consult a certified Aromatherapist in your area.
Headaches:
Roman Chamomile (migraines)
Eucalyptus (colds/sinus headaches)
Lavender
Lemon
Peppermint
Rosemary
Colds/Sinus:
Eucalyptus
Cedarwood
Tea Tree
Mood Lifting/Fatigue:
Lemon
Lime
Orange
Grapefruit
Pine Needle
Calming/Insomnia:
Chamomile
Lavender
Sweet Basl
Bergamot
Orange
Patchouli
Rose
Sandalwood
Recipes
- Kitchen/Bath/Mulitpurpose Cleaner
Fill a clean, empty spray bottle (20-30oz) two-thirds full of water. Fill the remainder with white vinegar. Add 10-15 drops of essential oil. Shake well to mix. Give it a good shake each time prior to using as well. For a ‘scrubbier’ cleaner, add 1-2 tsp baking soda and shake well. If using baking soda cleaner, make sure to rinse or wipe with plain water to avoid any soda residue.
- Window Cleaner
Fill a large (quart-sized) spray bottle with warm water. Add 2 tsp white vinegar and shake well. Spray windows and wipe with a clean, dry cotton cloth (old t-shirts work great!). Avoid terry cloth as it leaves lint behind.
- Floor Cleaner
Add 1/4 cup white vinegar to a bucket of water. Add 10 drops of lemon essential oil and 4 drops of oregano essential oil. Oregano oil has powerful antiseptic properties! This is great for wood, tile and linoleum floors.
- Wood Furniture Polish (finished, non-painted wood)
Mix ¼ cup vegetable oil and ¼ cup white vinegar, and 3 drops lemon essential oil. Use a few drops on a clean cotton cloth and rub in to polish.
- Carpet Freshener
Mix together 1 cup baking soda and 10-20 drops essential oils in a bowl. Cover and let sit overnight to let the soda absorb the oils. Then sprinkle over carpet and vacuum up.
- Fragrant Room Sprays
In a small plastic spray bottle (holds 4-6oz), add 1 oz water, then 1oz witch hazel. Add 20 drops essential oil, shake and test. If satisfied with the fragrance strength, add the remaining 2 oz water and shake well. If you’d like it stronger, keep adding up to 20 drops EOs (for a max total of 40 drops). Shake well each time before using.
- For Wall Marks and Stains
Sprinkle baking soda on a damp sponge and rub gently. Wipe with a clean damp sponge.
- For Lime Deposits and Mold
Squeeze fresh lemon juice on lime deposit/mold, let it sit several minutes, wipe with a clean wet cloth. You can also use full strength white vinegar instead of lemon juice.