The best way to get your linens smelling fresh and clean without toxic ingredients is to make your own linen spray. It’s inexpensive, easy and FUN. You get to choose the scents you like and experiment with finding the perfect combination for your linens.
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Why Make Your Own?
Control Ingredients: Making your own linen spray allows you to control the ingredients. You can avoid commercial linen sprays, plug-ins, air fresheners, and candles that often contain multiple chemicals and have strong smells. One common ingredient in these products is ‘fragrance,’ which can cause headaches, respiratory issues and impact the endocrine system.
These linen sprays often contain phthalates, formaldehyde and benzene, all of which you want to avoid because they are incredibly toxic and can all cause serious health issues. Phthalates can severely disrupt the endocrine system while too much exposure to formaldehyde can be deadly and benzene is a known human carcinogen.
Cost Effective: This linen spray is made up of just a few ingredients that you possibly already have in your home so the cost will be minimal if you need to purchase anything.
Versatility: Another benefit of this linen spray is its versatility. It can be applied to a variety of fabrics and it can double as an effective room air freshener as well!
Gifting: A DIY linen spray also makes a great gift for family or friends, especially those who want to reduce toxins in their home, but haven’t made the change from store bought linen sprays and room sprays.
What Essential Oils Should You Use?
Many people are already loyal to an essential oil brand. If you’re not, I suggest Plant Therapy or DoTerra. Plant Therapy is usually my first choice because the company is reputable and transparent. They produce high quality oils and have a rigorous 3rd party testing process. The results of those tests are presented on their website for the consumer’s awareness. Another thing I like about Plant Therapy is that I can purchase directly off of the company’s website and don’t have to deal with multi-level marketing.
As far as which scents to use, I can share personal preferences, but the a fun part of making your own linen spray is that you can be creative and experiment with any oil scents you want and come up with your own combinations. You can get creative seasonally as well and make a holiday scented spray, a fall scented spray, etc. And if you prefer, you can just use one favorite essential oil.
If you need some guidance or suggestions, I personally prefer light, clean scents that aren’t overpowering. I choose lavender for its calming properties and often pair it with lemon essential oil. Together, they create a fresh, subtle scent for my linens.
Take a look at some more ideas.
My favorite scent combos:
- Lavender and Lemon
- Lavender and Chamomile
- Lavender & Bergamot
- Lavender & Cedarwood
- Lavender & Eucalyptus
- Lavender & Orange
- Lemon & Orange
How To Make Linen Spray
If you have never made linen spray before, do not worry. It is easy to make and only takes about 10 minutes. It requires a few simple ingredients.
- 16 oz Amber colored glass spray bottle (Amber is important to maintain the disposition of the oils by protecting them from light and heat)
- Witch Hazel (or rubbing alcohol) – Acts as an emulsifier to help blend the oils with the water to allow the scent to disperse evenly. It also helps to increase scent longevity.
- Distilled Water – Distilled water is free of impurities and will help prevent bacteria growth.
- Essential Oils
- A Funnel – optional, but very helpful!
To make it, you will simply use your funnel to add the witch hazel to your glass bottle. Add in the drops of essential oils and top it off with distilled water. Give it a shake and you’re ready to use it!
Ways to Use Your Linen Spray
Think linen spray is just for furniture and linens? Think again! Here’s a list of several ways to use your linen spray.
At Home:
- Spray on linens such as bed sheets and mattress
- Spray on carpet and furniture
- Spray on rugs, throws, pillows, etc
- Spray on curtains (try this with open windows to let in fresh air)
- Spray on seasonal clothes from totes/storage
- Spray on fabric in vehicles
- Spray on fabric patio furniture
- Spray inside of shoes (super helpful for smelly boy feet!)
- Use it as a room spray to freshen the air
- Spray it inside your vacuum canister to freshen up while vacuuming the floors
Travel:
Before traveling, you spray inside your luggage to freshen it up. I like to stash a small bottle of linen spray in my luggage to freshen the hotel sheets or air in the room while traveling. I prefer the lemon lavender for this because lemon is a naturally deodorizing scent and will freshen the air in the room while reducing stale air.
Final Thoughts
Making and using your own linen spray is just one more easy and inexpensive way to continue on in your journey to reducing toxins in your home. It’s versatile in its uses and can improve air quality in your home by reducing the chemicals you’re exposed to in the commercial linen sprays and room fresheners. It may feel like a small step, but it will have a positive impact for your family.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov / https://www.cancer.gov
How to Make Linen Spray
Equipment
- 1 16 OZ Glass Spray Bottle
- 1 Funnel
Materials
- 1/3 Cup Witch Hazel
- 20 Drops Lavender Essential Oil
- 20 Drops Lemon Essential Oil
- Distilled Water
Instructions
- Using your funnel, add the witch hazel into the glass bottle.
- Next, add in the drops of essential oils.
- Lastly, top off the glass bottle with distilled water. Close the bottle and give it a shake.
- You're ready to spray on linens and furniture around the home to freshen up!
Love this! Whipping up a batch this weekend!
I love this idea and all the fragrance combinations! Thanks