Can you actually use essential oils to clean?
We love using essential oils for cleaning, but we have noticed some companies are making claims that simply aren't true.
We want you to enjoy essential oils for cleaning, but in the right way!
So we’re here to keep it real and tell you exactly how to clean with essential oils and what not to do!
Contents
- Can I Use Essential Oils For Cleaning?
- What Shouldn’t You Do?
- What Can Essential Oils Be Used For?
- What Are The Best Essential Oils For Cleaning?
- Final Thoughts
Can I Use Essential Oils For Cleaning?
Yes, but be careful what you read online!
There is a lot of misinformation out there when it comes to cleaning with essential oils. You need to use recipes made and tested by experts. But don’t worry, you’ve come to the right place!
Essential oils have amazing aromas that can be used to make your home smell fresh. They can also add their own unique properties to cleaning products.
So what should you avoid doing?
What Shouldn’t You Do?
We have seen a lot of cleaning recipes online that just don’t work.
One popular recipe uses just water and essential oil. This simply isn’t going to clean your surfaces well.
You may be thinking, doesn’t oil and water separate? Yes! This popular recipe doesn’t even include a solubilizer and emulsifier (like polysorbate 80) to combine it all together. Not only that, but without a preservative, it is going to go off very quickly!
Similar to this recipe, we have seen others using water, vinegar and essential oils. Again, this isn’t going to do much for cleaning. And, you guessed it, there's nothing to combine the ingredients together or any preservatives!
It is important to remember to use essential oils in small amounts. You must dilute pure essential oils before using them! If you are adding them to water, this is not diluting it because water and oil don't mix! You need to add polysorbate 80 or a similar ingredient to combine the oil and water.
Essential oils have different recommended usage rates, so make sure you check the IFRA document. Using too much essential oil to clean could be dangerous for you, your pets or children.
What Can Essential Oils Be Used For?
Essential oils can be used in homemade cleaning products, room sprays and diffusers! Their fresh scent and natural properties are the perfect way to enhance homemade cleaning.
Surface Cleaner
To make your own cleaning product (that will actually clean surfaces), you can use our castile soap base and any essential oil you want!
You can add up to 8% essential oil to the base (it is important to also check section 10A in the IFRA document for each individual essential oils to ensure you are within the recommended usage rates). Simply mix the essential oils into the soap base and it’s ready to use!
This is the most natural surface cleaner you can get! The castile soap base contains organic ingredients and can clean anything from hands, body, kitchens and bathroom. We don’t recommend using this to clean clothes or dishes!
Room Spray
Essential oils are also amazing at freshening up a room! Our favourite way to bring a beautiful fresh scent is with a room spray. Our room spray recipe uses eucalyptus oil and lemon, but you can choose from a range of essential oils to customise it!
Diffuser
Another great way to uplift your home is with a diffuser. Diffusers disperse the aroma around your home, for as long as you want. All you need to do is add your favourite essential oil or a blend of essential oils to your diffuser!
These are some of our favourite diffuser blends:
2 drops Peppermint oil
2 drops Lemongrass oil
5 drops Lemon oil
2 drops Rosemary oil
5 drops Eucalyptus oil
2 drops Tea tree oil
2 drops Orange oil
2 drops Lemon oil
6 drops Lavender oil
What Are The Best Essential Oils For Cleaning?
You can choose any essential oil to bring your favourite scents inside your home. Some popular choices are citrus oils like orange essential oil and lemon oil. Other oils like tea tree oil, peppermint oil, and eucalyptus oil have a great cleaning scent.
The most commonly used essential oils in cleaning are:
-
Tea tree essential oil
-
Lemon essential oil
-
Peppermint essential oil
- Lemongrass essential oil
- Lavender essential oil
These essential oils bring a beautiful fresh and clean scent to a home. They are also a great natural alternative to synthetic fragrances in cleaning products.
What Claims Are There?
Many blogs make big claims that essential oils have antibacterial, antifungal or antimicrobial properties.
While we think this may be true to an extent, if you are going to start making claims it needs to be backed up by science.
The issue is, most companies are linking studies so that they look scientific (to make it look like they know what they’re talking about), but the studies don’t make sense or prove anything.
How do we know?
The bottom line is, these essential oils are likely to have some antifungal or antibacterial properties, but just not to the exaggerated extent other companies are advertising!
However, we do know they are amazing for aromatherapy as they help bring a calming and uplifting aroma to your home!
Final Thoughts
All in all, cleaning with essential oils can be great, but be careful what recipes you read online.
At the Soapery, we always want you to be as informed as possible with essential oils, as there is still a lot of misinformation out there.
So now you know how you can actually use essential oils for cleaning, it’s time to freshen up your home!
Continue Reading
Now you know the truth about cleaning with essential oils, why not continue reading?
- Want to learn more about tea tree oil? Read our tea tree oil for acne blog!
- Want to make your own dry shampoo? Try our dry shampoo recipe!
- Learn how to make soap with our organic soap recipe!
Let us know your favourite essential oils for cleaning in the comments below!
