DIY Essential Oil Diffuser Ideas for When You Can’t Light a Candle

This month I had been helping my brother put together his first college packing list and it reminded me of all the dorms I lived in. I moved every single year, sometimes each semester, and eventually got my system down pat.

Before freshman year though, I remember obsessively creating packing lists, reading blog posts for dorm ideas, and going over what you could and could not bring. The one that always stuck out to me was “nothing to start fires; lighters, matches, candles, etc.”. I hadn’t developed my candle hoarding habits yet and thought, ya, easy. No candles. And then you live in a stale dorm for a semester and start looking for ways to keep the smell of burnt popcorn from the room down the hall out of your space. It’s time to be introduced to the budget-friendly, low maintenance, dorm approved DIY Essential Oil Diffuser.

Basic DIY Essential Oil Diffuser Recipe

The basic recipe for an essential oil diffuser is 1) a container 2) a carrier oil 3) essential oils. That’s it!

Essential oils are highly concentrated oils that you should always take care not to handle with your bare hands. If you do get a strong oil on you DO NOT wash with water. Grab a neutral oil and keep “washing” with it until the sensation goes away. A carrier oil is a neutral oil that makes essential oils more stable so you can use them for your body, hair, or room diffuser. A few DIY diffuser tutorials suggest using distilled water and vodka, but just be aware that will evaporate much quicker than a carrier oil and won’t hold on to the essential oil as effectively.

There are tons of carrier oils to choose from, but I always recommend sweet almond oil. It’s one of the more affordable carrier oils and has little to no scent so you can actually smell your essential oils. It can be a little pricey to get all your essential oils initially, but you won’t use a lot for the diffuser. Some math for reference:

It is recommended to use 15 drops of essential oil per 1/4 c of carrier oil. There are roughly  100 drops of essential oil in 1 tsp. At that rate, your essential oils could last you a couple semesters!

Always do your research and know where your essential oils are coming from! Any essential oil company should be transparent about their sources/processes. Essential oils as a product is an MLM minefield, so keep an eye out for any company that requires a “subscription”. If you ever want to use these for your body, make sure to get organic.

I’ve slowly been growing my essential oil collection to play around with different blends. Here are 3 of my favorites for the school year:

Essential Oil Diffuser Blends for Back to School

For Focus
Eucalyptus
Peppermint
Basil

For Calm
Lavender
Bergamot
Vetiver
Chamomile

For Postive Energy
Orange
Bergamot
Cypress
Rose Geranium

Play around an experiment with ratios! You can always mix smaller amounts to test scents before adding them to a carrier oil. Once you find your favorite ratio, jot it down and pick a diffuser container.

DIY Essential Oil Diffuser Ideas

Some kind of narrow-necked container with reed diffusers
The most classic of all room diffusers, a narrow-necked container will help your oils last longer by slowing down the evaporation. I love thrifting for unique glassware or upcycling bud vases for this!

Lava Rocks
Lava rocks are porous enough to hold on to essential oils, then gently diffuse them. I have this string of lava rocks for a future essential oil jewelry project, but in the meantime, I keep it in a shallow dish and pour an oil mix over it.

Unglazed Ceramic
Any kind of unglazed ceramic will essentially act as one large lava rock. You can have your piece in a glazed container with your oil blend directly, or you can use a rope as an oil wick and treat the unglazed ceramic as a reed diffuser.

I hope these help you create your own special space and good luck to everyone going back to school!