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Have you tried natural beeswax candles? If it hasn't been way too heavily refined/processed, beeswax has a bit of honey still in it and smells nice while burning...beeswax candles, with proper size wicks, are also the cleanest burning candle.
Spritzing fresheners are used in public restrooms. That said, finding a safe "air freshener" of any type is exactly the same as finding a safe cigarette. All of them infuse chemicals, smoke, or pollutants into the air. When my sensitivities to them are high, I can't even walk down a grocery aisle where they are on display. When Whole Foods (of all places) started using scented sprays and incense at one of their stores, I had to stop shopping there.
The only way to have clean air is to CLEAN the air, not add perfumes and other cr-p into it. A properly functioning air filter with an activated carbon component is about as good as it gets without resorting to water washes and such.
I cant even sit next to someone that has used a powerful laundry soap on their clothes. I have nasal polyps and man if every chemical doesnt drive me up a wall. OP, why the need for scents? Is there an odor that needs covering up? I cant see why just keeping the area ventilated wouldnt work. Or you can try oil rings. They make adobe rings that slip over light bulbs. You put some scented oil on them and when you turn on the light, it releases the aroma. Might check into that.
I can't stand polluting the air in my house with chemicals from air fresheners or smoke from incense.
The best way I have found to keep the air in the house fresh is to open the windows.
Of course this assumes that the air outside is clean and fresh.
If it's not, you're living in the wrong place.
Helllooooo allergies! Clean air is nice. If the outside environment is sterile..... My wife has three medications she takes during certain times of the year and she still suffers. Living without them for her is Hell.
Orange peel, apple rind, almost any fruit, and some vegetables.
Eat the insides and crush the outsides. Place them in a convenient place (or, as I do, next to the furnace filter so the aroma goes through the entire house - our furnace fan runs 24/7 to keep the house cool). Same with flowers.
I agree, tek_freek. I was going to suggest orange peels and cinnamon sticks in strategic places. Fresh fragrant flowers beat all. Commercial air fresheners and candles all contain petroleum products that smell like "orange" or " cinnamon".
My mom loves to buy a lot of smell good things for the home, the Air Wick thing that shoots out scents (we quickly discovered it made my headaches worse), the plugins, and incense sticks.
A lot of things similar to Glade plugins and such contain phlates. Does anyone know of anything that freshens the smell of your home and doesn't cause headaches or any other negative health effects?
I like incense sticks but a lot of times I wake up with a sore throat if I light one before I go to bed.
I'm not a big candle fan and the smell doesn't seem to last. I know some stores sell soy-based candles.
Bath & Body Works room sprays are almost as cheap as grocery store brands ($5.00 a can, but often on sale 3 for $5.00).
The can is tiny, but the scent is powerful and lasting; one or two squirts scents your entire home, or a large office, for several hours.
Plus you get to choose from all those great, unique B&BW fragrances.
I like the fall and holiday scents best of all, because they're usually so "food-y": sugar cookie, gingerbread, pumpkin spice, cinnamon roll, vanilla bean, etc.
Cotton balls soaked in essential oils . . . Some oils I like to use . . . Lavender, orange, bergamot, peppermint . . . Find essential oils that you enjoy smelling. Peppermint aids w/ soothing a headache. This is the most natural way to create good smells in your home.
I have some soy candles which can scent somewhat without being lit, because it's summer. Mostly I like the reed diffusers, no worries about burning candles.
I'm not allergic to most room sprays, etc., but Oust just did not work for me, although Glade and Lysol don't bother me.
Some people recommend dryer sheets to refresh a room....We use our A/C most of the time and change the filter every 45 days. No pets here just the two of us and my older brother at times. We do live in an area that has a 70 degree average temperature and our home is 4 years old. We also find that our Ion/Oxygen generator attached to our A/C unit does great.
Our home is fresh all days of the year. If we burn a candle it must be soy and only in the bathroom due to the wax that is expelled from the regular bees wax candles that accumulates on all walls and just everywhere......
My mom is seriously allergic to air freshners. Gives her lumps on the back of the neck and bad migraines. She uses popcorn as an alternative when the air isn't blowing enough outside to clean the air. Growing up, we always had a box of stick matches to use in the bathroom. The charcoal from the matches takes care of any offensive odors.
Look into clean air houseplants: draecena marginata, mother-in-law's tongue/snake plant, boston fern, english ivy, chrysanthemums, bamboo palms, and many other plants not only produce oxygen, they absorb odors and dangerous chemicals like benzene, formaldehyde, and toluene from the air. Plants are the main reason the outdoors smells so fresh, why not bring that power inside?
I moved into an apartment that had been party to a lot of curry dishes the previous year, and smelled strongly the first couple of weeks. A scrub down of the walls and cabinets and several houseplants later, the curry smell is only occasionally in the kitchen.
It may not smell like snickerdoodles, but it will smell good nonetheless.
For scent I have an essential oil diffuser to use while I'm home, it's nice for when I'm having company (or just want a pick me up!)
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