DIY Essential Oil Perfume Recipe with Coconut Oil (To avoid TOXIC, cancer-causing fragrance)

For many of us, men and women alike, putting on perfume or cologne is just a part of our daily routine. We have collections of new and old perfumes, cheap ones from the supermarket and expensive ones received as a gift. Yet, whether seen as a necessity or a luxury, perfumes are in urgent need of our critique.

Is Perfume Safe?

The Fuss About Styrene

Styrene is a chemical that is used as an essential ingredient to many household and beauty products. It’s also been identified as a human carcinogen. But avoiding products with styrene has been made virtually impossible because of two words: “fragrance” and “parfum”.

When it comes to product labelling, companies are not obligated to disclose any chemical or compound ingredient if they say it’s part of what makes the product smell nice. So, only two words, “fragrance” and “parfum”, can really be referring to as many as 4000 different things, and if styrene is one of them, they won’t tell you.

The Average “Fragrance”

In 2010, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics ran an experiment. They tested several of the most popular perfumes and household products with “fragrance”, and the results were very troubling. Researchers found that on average, there were 14 chemicals that weren’t explicitly listed on the label, 10 of which are known to be connected to allergies, asthma, and headaches, and 4 of them can lead to thyroid dysfunction, sperm damage, and cancer.

The government allows companies to sell a toxic cocktail to millions of people without ever giving them warning. So if there’s no way to know whether the product you’re using is as harmless as it claims to be, does that mean it’s the end of perfume for you? Not necessarily!

Natural Alternative to Perfume

You may already be using essential oils for various aspects of your health, so you’ll be pleased to know there’s a way you can use them to replace toxic store-bought perfume. There are so many different essential oils that have their own beautiful and unique smells. We love to create rich, full-bodied natural perfumes by combining 3 different essential oils together.

Why 3? A “high note” to be the first noticeable thing you smell (like basil, juniper, pine, rosewood, peppermint, or grapefruit) , a “middle note” to give a more complex scent (like black pepper, jasmine, lavender, rose, orange blossom, or ginger), and a “base note” that will last the whole day (like cedarwood, cocoa, myrrh, vanilla, or tobacco).

Homemade Perfume Recipe

To get started, you’ll first need to decide which oils you’ll combine to make your perfume. This is the fun part! Feel free to experiment as much as you want, but we suggest that you start with a maximum of 3 scents, and then work your way up to more complicated smells as you get the hang of it.

To choose a perfume combination, assemble your essential oils in a well-ventilated area. You’ll want to cover your workspace with paper towels, so it won’t carry the smell for days. Cut up strips of paper or coffee filter to make up your “test strips”, and then add a very small drop of EO to each strip. Hold up the test strips together close to your nose to decide which combinations smell the best.

What You Need:

3 essential oils of your choice!

Small sealable glass container to store perfume
Coconut oil
Eye droppers

3 tbsp Vodka
Paper “test strips”

Instructions:

Add 2 drops each of your base and middle EO’s into the container
Mix together with an eye dropper, then clean the dropper with vodka. Dip a test strip into your mix, and see if you like it.
Adjust the smell by adding one drop at a time, and repeating steps 1 and 2 as desired.

Add 1 drop of your high note. Repeat steps 2-3 until it’s the smell you want.
Seal container and let sit for 2 weeks.
Slowly add in coconut oil as a carrier. It will make the scent less strong, so start with 1 teaspoon, and work your way up. Then, enjoy!

We tried so many different combinations, but some of the ones that turned out best were Vanilla + Jasmine; Orange Blossom + Tangerine + Rose; and Black Pepper + Myrrh + Rose. What are your favorites?