8 Things You Can Use To Deodorize Your Home

How well do you know the language of home fragrances? Believe it or not, there's more to it than air fresheners and sprays. To make sure you're in the know, we've put together a handy guide you can use when shopping. Check it out below: 

Popularly used for religious and spiritual purposes, incense is a powdered fragrance that is lighted and its flame blown away, leaving a fragrant smoke that burns slowly. Three of the most popular kinds are the stick, coil and cone incense.

Scented candles

These are candles made from wax mixed with fragrant oils. A scented candle’s fragrance wafts into the air without smoke, and is subtler than incense.

Scented oils

These are oil extracts of a flower, leaf, or another natural material (like rose, eucalyptus, or lemons) whose scents are released when placed on top of an oil burner and lit from below.

Potpourri

This is a bunch of dried flowers, leaves and seeds that are infused with a few drops of fragrance oils and then sealed into a bag or placed in a bowl.

Scented gel

Made of oil, scented powder and water, this is packaged in tin cans with vents, or in a mix-it yourself form. The more solid version is shaped into small cakes. 

Fragrance lamps and lamp oils

Hailing from the same family as kerosene, fragrant lamp oils are more refined and processed as to not emit a harmful smoke. These oils are mostly extracts from plants and when burnt give off a pleasant aroma.

Reed diffusers

Reed sticks (which are made for dry perennial grasses) suck oil from their container and emit the fragrance from the top of the sticks. Unlike oil lamps, reed diffusers release the scent of oil without burning.

Naphthalene balls

More popularly known as mothballs, these small balls and discs are made of paradichlorobenzene and naphthalene, and release fumigant gases that deodorize the area and are usually kept in wardrobes to keep away silverfish and moths. A more subtle and non-toxic version of these are cedar balls. 

This snippet is originally from the story Get Inspired in the September 2009 issue of Real Living magazine. Download your digital copy at the Real Living App. Log on to summitnewsstand.com.ph/real-living for more details.