As I’m sure many of you know (as I have nagged you enough!), one of my pet hates in the unnecessary use of chemicals is air-fresheners. If I hated them before, I detest them even more now the plug-in variety has become the most popular type – think of all that wasted energy simply to make sure your home is constantly full of potentially toxic and harmful chemicals? Beggars belief!
WDDTY (What Doctors Don’t Tell You) recently did another report on air fresheners in their April issue. And it makes stark reading so I thought I’d take the opportunity to remind you to stay well away from them. I won’t labour the point by going on about the various chemicals found by the researchers studying 74 different air fresheners used across Europe, but suffice to say I wouldn’t want them in my house or lungs. They are a source of indoor pollution, are designed by marketeers who have created a product for a need that doesn’t exist just so you part with your hard-earned cash and cause actual physical harm. It just doesn’t make sense.
Did you know that air fresheners don’t actually break down nasty pongs? They don’t even just mask them. A lot of them contain the chemicals to actually interfere with your nasal passages to stop you smelling things by either coating the nose lining with a thin oily film, or even by deadening nerves so your nose doesn’t work properly.
So, avoid them especially if you are pregnant, have children or elderly people in the house with vulnerable lungs or are planning a family – or in fact have a pulse!
Get rid of the source of any bad smells, ventilate your house by opening windows and if you do need something fill a garden spray with filtered water and add 10-20 drops of your favourite essential oil or mix. A mix of high notes like basil or peppermint with middle notes like lavender or ylang ylang and a deep note like jasmin works great, or just go for your favourite smell and spray around the house, not directly at yourself. Don’t be tempted to buy pot pourri or aromatherapy candles (unless they’re the ones we’ve told you about from Heaven Scent) – these are just as bad.