Diffusers Q&A Part 1

 Hello!  This is Part 1 of a 2 part Blog post!  Here are the first 3 FAQs

How many drops of essential oil should I use in my diffuser?  

I wish I could just give you a number, but it’s not that simple!  It depends on many things - the size of your diffuser, how much water you put in the well of your diffuser, the size of your room you are diffusing in and for the person or people you’re diffusing for.  

As a rule of thumb use 1-4 drops per 100ml of water!   so the Desert Mist diffuser holds 200mls of water in its well so you could use a maximum of 8 drops if you filled the well up to its maximum level  – and a diffuser with this size well is ideal for a room of about 10’ x 10’ or 3 x 3 meters.   The 'Feathers the Owl' diffuser shown on the right also holds 200mls of water in it's water well. 

You would also need to consider the essential oil – so if you chose Geranium, you would choose the lesser amount of drops as Geranium is very overpowering for a small room, but if you chose Lavender or Frankincense you could choose the maximum amount of drops as lavender and Frankincense aren’t anywhere near as overpowering as Geranium.   

Another consideration is the age of the recipient – if you are diffusing for a child or a senior and the diffuser is next to their bed, you could choose the smaller number of drops if the purpose of diffusing were for a calming atmosphere, or you may choose a higher number of drops (still within the 1 – 4 per 100ms of water) if you were diffusing to stay alert.  

I want to use both Orange & Cedarwood in my diffuser – should I put them in the water separately or mix them together first?  

When you choose to diffuse a combination of singles say Orange & Cedarwood in this example– the choice is yours - some people put 2 drops of Cedarwood and then 2 drops of Orange separately into the diffuser well – this is okay but you are not getting the real synergistic effect of these two oils  -  in my opinion, it  would be more beneficial to blend the orange and Cedarwood together first, then add your drops of that blend into the diffuser well.  - Once you find a blend you love – you could make a batch bottle – so in a 5ml bottle – that holds approximately 100 drops – you could put 40 drops of Cedarwood and 60 drops of orange (or whatever combination you like)  then drop the number of drops you want to use in the diffuser – so 2 – 8 drops of this blend of two oils into your 200mls of water for the Desert Mist diffuser.

I have a blend like this using Orange and Cedarwood  -  I call it my Christmas Blend  and use it all year round.  So if you were using 8 drops of this blend in your diffuser, your 5mls bottle that contains approximately 100 drops would be good for about 12 diffusing sessions (that’s 96 drops! If you are checking my maths!).   

Do I really need to clean my diffuser?  Yes, you really do!  And it only takes a few seconds.  It’s all in the instruction book you received with your diffuser  (your guarantee could be invalid if you don’t follow the instructions) - which state that the only substance you can use to clean your diffuser is rubbing alcohol.  and should be cleaned every time you change the essential oil.  

(Click Here for a Free Guide).

Suzie Webb

Nutrition Consultant & Clinical Aromatherapist