Make your own aromatherapy linen spray.

laura2481

Hi- apologies if something like this already exists somewhere. I searched but couldn't find anything so feel free to merge if necessary


Today I used the last of some lavender space and body spray (posh talk for air freshener and body spray) I had from Boots. I had been using it to spray on my bed linen to get a nice relaxing scent for bed time. I looked up how much it was and found it is currently £6.65 for 100ml! :eek: So that got me thinking if there was a cheaper way to make something similar. I found a few recipes in various places so with a little experimentation I came up with this:

Recipe for 100ml of Lavender Linen Spray:
1.25ml of Lavender essential oil (25 drops)
15ml of unflavoured vodka
83.75ml water (or there abouts )

1. Use an empty spray bottle or rinse out an old bottle with hot water.
2. In a small bowl, mix lavender oil and vodka together. The alcohol works as an emulsifier, allowing the oil and water to mix evenly.
3. Pour the lavender-vodka mix into the spray bottle, add the water, and shake.
4. Make sure to shake well before each use.

You can also use the spray before ironing, give your clothes a light spritz to make them smell nice.

Don't like lavender? Any 100% essential oil will do. Some essential oils, like Jasmine or Rose Otto are blended with carrier oils as they are really expensive when pure. These blended oils may leave oily marks on your clothes or bed linen so make sure you have a 100% pure essential oil.

This spray also works well as an air freshener.

Don't want to use alcohol? Just make sure you shake the bottle vigorously before you use it as the essential oils and the water will separate.

To give you an idea of cost. I used Tesco imperial vodka which is £3.98 for 350ml and Boots Aromatherapy Lavender oil which is £3.71 for 10ml. 100ml of my linen/ironing/room spray costs 72p!!! and it smells exactly (in my opinion) the same as the £6.65 Boots spray! Obviously, if you happen to have vodka and essential oils 'lying around' then all you have to do is find an empty bottle!

I'm using the left over vodka (335ml) to make strawberry vodka. Yum! and the lavender oil can be used in an oil burner, as a natural antiseptic and will be around for the next time I want to make some linen/ironing/room spray!

Mrs_Bones

Thanks, it sounds lovely and going to have a go at this. Just a thought, do you think I could get away with useing Gin instead of Vodka, it's just I've got a bottle of gin in the pantry that was given to me and I hate the stuff, so it's just sat there since christmas.

Gigervamp

You could do with increasing the amount of alcohol as 15% isn't enough I don't think, to preserve the water.

do you think I could get away with useing Gin instead of Vodka,

Any alcohol would work. The reason vodka is usually used is because it doesn't really have any smell to clash with the EO's but gin should be fine. Would go well with lemon or lime EO, although I prefer my gin in a glass with ice and tonic!

laura2481

Mrs_Bones wrote: »

Thanks, it sounds lovely and going to have a go at this. Just a thought, do you think I could get away with useing Gin instead of Vodka, it's just I've got a bottle of gin in the pantry that was given to me and I hate the stuff, so it's just sat there since christmas.

Probably not- I think gin does have some scent as it's flavoured with juniperberrys. You could use the gin to make sloe gin and give it away to someone as a home made chrismas present. Not sure where to get sloes from though.... I'm sure someone else would know that!

Gigervamp

Wrong time of the year for sloes, they won't be ready until the autumn!

laura2481

Gigervamp wrote: »

Wrong time of the year for sloes, they won't be ready until the autumn!

yep, but then the sloe gin should be ready just in time for christmas
ps BF just pointed out you could use damsons instead of sloes

laura2481

Gigervamp wrote: »

You could do with increasing the amount of alcohol as 15% isn't enough I don't think, to preserve the water.

True, but I guess it depends how fast you use it;) If you use too much it will make your clothes and sheets smell like vodka. Not a good look- the wino look is so out this year dahrling!:rotfl:

Stephen_Leak

I use something similar to this, minus the vodka (I can think of much better uses for it - Naz Darovya!) and with only about 5 drops of essential oil per litre of water, as an ironing spray.

It also seems to work as a room spray.

The only downside is that, as I used lavender essential oil, it makes me want to go to sleep before I've finished the ironing.

laura2481

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

I use something similar to this, minus the vodka and with about 5 drops of essential oil per litre of water, as an ironing spray.

I also use it as a room spray.

The only downside is that, as I used relaxing lavender essential oil, it makes me want to go to sleep before I've finished the ironing.

I guess mine is a bit more whiffy :rotfl: Lavender is nice and relaxing, but something zingy-er like orange would work well too

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Just wondering if anyone makes their own Linen Spray? Decent linen sprays seem very expensive & I would like to try and make my own.

Any advice would be appreciated.

ChocClare

I put a few drops of lavender oil in a spray bottle of water and use that. Everything smells delish.

It doesn't "keep" the way ordinary bought linen water does, so you might only want to make up an ironing-basket full at a time (in my case, several gallons ) but you do literally only need 2 or 3 drops.