Posted by Janet Harriett on Aug.03, 2009

©iStockPhoto.com - _Ellie_

When choosing a safe and effective home fragrance product, one of the biggest barriers with commercial products is that manufacturers are not required to disclose the exact ingredients of their products. The components that give a home fragrance its smell are only required to be listed as “Fragrance.” Some of these may be relatively safe essential oils, or they may be Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), compounds that readily vaporize at room temperature. Common scented VOCs are limonene, which gives a lemon-orange scent, and pinene, which gives a pine scent.

Even though it can be all but impossible to determine what the health impact of the fragrance itself may be, the delivery systems for these fragrances are somewhat more transparent, and each has its own health and safety concerns.

Hazards of Home Scent Delivery Systems

Aerosol home fragrances contain propellants in order to get the fragrance out of the can. These propellants are usually some form of volatile hydrocarbon such as propane, butane, isobutane, dimethyl ether or methyl ethyl ether.

Burning scented candles emits particulate-containing soot, and the paraffin that most non-soy or non-beeswax candles are made of is a petroleum byproduct, with the attendant environmental and health risks.

Burning incense, whether in stick, cone or coil form, has been shown to create levels of benzene, toluene, methyl chloride and methylene chloride that exceed recommended indoor air quality standards.

How to Scent Your Home Safely

First and foremost, get rid of offending scents instead of covering them up with home fragrances. Baking soda is great for this task. Wide, shallow bowls of baking soda can do for closets and other small areas what the box of baking soda has done to the refrigerator for years.

Zeolite, a type of volcanic rock that absorbs odor, can be placed in spots where odors are particular problems to keep the odors down. Zeolite lasts indefinitely and only needs to be recharged a couple times a years in direct sun.

Once you have a clean scent slate, there are healthy and safe alternatives for scenting your home.

Fresh Flowers. Bouquets of fragrant flowers such as lilacs, sweet pea, lilies, roses, jasmine and fresh lavender placed around the house add beauty and scent. The most fragrant flowers are fresh-cut from the garden. Bouquets from commercial florists may not smell as strongly, if at all. May not be appropriate for people with allergies.

Homemade simmering potpourri. Slice an apple or orange into a saucepan with water, add cinnamon sticks and whole cloves, and set to a simmer to give the whole house an apple spice or orange spice perfume.

Pomanders. Traditionally associated with Christmas, these natural and easy-to-make scent balls can perfume a home for years. To make a pomander, simply stick whole cloves into an unblemished orange, taking care that the cloves are no more than 1/4 inch apart, and let the orange dry out in a paper bag for about a month to cure it. Once the pomander is cured, it will last for years, only needing an occasional refresh with natural clove oil.

Essential oils. Mix several drops of your favorite essential oils with 2 cups of water in a spray bottle to make a natural room spray. Make sure the essential oil is a naturally-extracted one, not a lab-created smell-alike.

Candles. If only scented candles will do, consider bayberry candles. The bayberry is coated with a natural wax that has been made into candles for centuries. Just make sure they are real bayberry wax candles and not bayberry-scented. Burning bayberry candles still produces the soot that is found in other scented candles.

When choosing a safe home fragrance, a good rule of thumb is to stick with fragrance sources that are minimally processed. The farther removed a fragrance product is from the source of the fragrance, the more likely it is to contain harmful compounds.

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Posted under Green Clean Air, Home Environment.