Myside's Spew - Blog of Spontaneous Combustible Spew

Clean and Reuse Aromatherapy Diffuser Pads

27 April, 2012 09:37 CST6CDT

Aromatherapy diffuser pads are used with heat based aromatherapy diffuser devices to warm essential oils to better release the scent of a plant oil.  After just a few rounds of applying essential oil to the pads for diffusion, the pads become clogged, sticky, and non-pliable.  Instead of purchasing replacement diffuser pads their is an easy and inexpensive way of removing the gummed oil residue and bring back your pads to its original condition.

You will need the following:

  • a sealed jar
  • isopropyl alcohol (at least 90%)
  • tweezers or other short clamping device

Aromatherapy Diffuser PadsThe process is rather simple and starts by filling a jar with enough alcohol to completely submerge the diffuser pad you want to clean.  Place the pad in the jar with the isopropyl alcohol and seal the jar.  Let the pad soak for up to four hours, though in most cases an hour to two hours is sufficient.  Use a tweezers or an appropriate device to turn and rub the pad into the alcohol without touching the liquid once or twice throughout the submersion of the pad.

Once the diffuser pad has returned to its original color, remove the pad and flush with very hot water using the tweezers for at least one minute.  If the pad is still sticky, or the texture has not returned to normal, or is in a unusable condition, repeat the process allowing the pad to soak for a longer period of time.

Depending on the quality of the pad, it may be reused dozens of times past its life-cycle of essential oil applications.  As an alternative to retail sold cloth, I often use LCD cleaning pads originally designed for the purpose of cleaning some types of computer monitors and other video devices in place of essential oil diffuser pads.  They tend to be sturdier and are just as pliable as retail replacement pads.

A year ago I was writing...

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Aromatherapy  Article & Comments

Helichrysum

03 July, 2011 17:17 CST6CDT

Helichrysum italicum or rather Helichrysum angustifoliumHelichrysum is in the Sunflower family and is grouped with approximately 600 species of this genus.  Today I purchased a small Helichrysum italicum or rather Helichrysum angustifolium young plant.

Helichrysum of the angustifolium type prefers full sun and at minimum 8 hours of daily sun.  Helichrysum is an easy to take care of plant that can easily flourish in a container because of its ability to tolerate poor soil, heat, and drought.  For outside planting, Helichrysum stays hardy to 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

This species of Helichrysum blooms a yellow daisy type flower during the summer months.  The plant tends to retain its shape and color when harvested and dried.

The bottom of the leaves secrete plant oil during various times of the seasons.  The oil is extracted in larger quantities through distillation resulting in an essential oil.  The resulting essential oil is an anti-inflammatory agent, it is fungicidal, and also astringent.  Nature's Gift has a very informative page describing Helichrysum Essential Oil and some of its uses [here].

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Aromatherapy  Article & Comments

Rehydrate and Flavor Cigarette Tobacco using Essential Oil

11 May, 2011 20:18 CST6CDT

Tobacco essential oil is available from numerous Internet aromatherapy distributors and local health food retail outlets.  In most cases tobacco essential oil does not contain nicotine.  Flavoring tobacco using essential oils allows you to continue your habit on the cheap by purchasing tobacco in bulk and flavoring the tobacco to your taste using the essential oil.  You will first want to experiment and sample tobacco essential oil if you have a smell for the plant to determine the taste you would like to flavor your cigarettes with.

You will need the following to rehydrate your cigarette tobacco with your flavor of choice:

  1. Tobacco Essential Oil (1 drop)
  2. 3 oz. of Cigarette Tobacco
  3. 3 Ply Paper Towel
  4. Air Tight Bag

First dry out the tobacco by leaving it out in a dry environment.  The tobacco should crumble by pressing against it.  Next, fold your paper towel in half and cut a 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch square of paper towel from the folded sheet.  Under warm water soak the paper towel you had cut and then wring out any excess water that may drip from the paper however keeping it highly hydrated.  Add 1 drop of tobacco essential oil to the middle of the wet paper towel and insert it into the bottom of an air tight bag such as a zip lock bag.  Now add the dried out tobacco to the bag and seal it while removing any air that may be trapped.  Wait 4 to 12 hours to rehydrate the tobacco while flipping the bag when possible.

The above is an HOWTO 'Do It Yourself' rehydrate and flavor your cigarette rolling tobacco.  This is not the normal use of essential oil products and smoking is a hazard to your health, so follow the above steps at your own risk.  Quit now!

A year ago I was writing...

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Day to Day  Aromatherapy  Projects  Article & Comments

Green Valley Aromatherapy - The Next Young Living

14 March, 2011 13:43 CST6CDT

edited 2011-03-19

Green Valley Aromatherapy published an article entitled, "Aromatherapy and ADD and ADHD", available here: [here] and [Facebook]

"Several essential oils can be used to naturally reduce the symptoms of ADD and ADHD including: vetivert , lavender and cedarwood essential oils." - [source]

In which I replied on their Facebook wall, after two comment deletions, "Pure BULLSHIT, simply explained. I am open to a long and tiresome debate with you rather than have you delete this comment again." After spending quite a bit of money on essential oils from this company, and with that having Green Valley Aromatherapy print an article like this with no room for debate, I declare the author and the company a "Witch with a Broomstick".

Silly people that think aromatherapy is a cure all.  Kinda like praying to God for your diabetic kids to heal while they lay and die in front of your eyes with no intent to seek medical intervention.  Bullshit.

Bullshit  Aromatherapy  Article & Comments

Destroy Heater & Air Conditioning Filter Odors

24 January, 2011 04:11 CST6CDT

I live in a medium sized apartment that uses both an heater and air conditioner in a single unit.  Cleaning the filters regularly is always a good idea.  However, if you are distracted by odor, mold, or viral health of the filtered air, then the following is a good use of Isopropyl Alcohol, Lavender, and a glass spray bottle.

Make sure the bottle you use for the spritzer is made of glass and of other material that will not corode by the Lavender essential oil or the Isopropyl Alcohol.  You should have luck finding a spray bottle of this type at your local co-op, health food store, or on-line retail store.

I use USP 91% Isopropyl Alcohol, however lower quantities of the active ingredients work just fine.

You may use any species of Lavender, however I would recommend Lavender 40/42 (Lavendula officinalis).  If you want to fill your room with a bolder Lavender aroma, you may want to try a Bulgarian Super species.

You will want to start by filling the spray bottle 1/10 of it's capacity full of the Lavender essential oil.  Yes, this is a lot of Lavender, however just one spray will easily last for several hours as a room deodorant and as a filter cleaning agent and disinfectant.

Fill the rest of the bottle with the Isopropyl Alcohol and give it a good shake.  When you turn on the fan, or your heat/air conditioner is on, spray one too two pumps of the Lavender Alcohol combination into the intake vents.

Random Thought : (edited) - Myside's Spew (myspew.com) has been chugging along for five years as of today! Woofta, time really does fly! Having taken a couple hours to reminisce through the archives, I realize while my content is not applicable to everyone all of the time, I have some pretty damn good information in here.. the search engines seem to like me also.. Happy 5 Years!

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