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Creating a DIY essential oil reed diffuser is easier than you think!

Benefits of essential oils are many. In the past I have dabbled a tiny bit into the uses of essential oils. I’ve created Scented Bee Soaps, Spice Candles in Copper Mugs, Coconut Orange Sugar Scrub and Soothing Lavender Sleep Spray to name just a few. Now I am even more of a believer in the benefits of essential oils added to my daily life. This is also why I created a DIY essential oil reed diffuser.

It all started with a party

My dear friend Linda recently became an independent distributor of Young Living™ Essential Oils. After learning so much about Young Living™ and the importance of 100% pure therapeutic grade essential oils, I am even more hooked! Honey Bee is a firm believer too. Typically we use essential oils on a daily and regular basis. Using an electric diffuser, I mix different oils depending on my mood or what I might need on a particular day. If I’m hard at work at my desk I might need to feel or energized or awake. In the evening’s it is all about being calm, relaxed and ready for a good night’s sleep.

Essential oils have also relieved our headaches, muscle pain, stuffy heads and more. I decided to create old-school reed diffusers for my desk and nightstand to further aide in my overall health. Let’s get started.

First you need the reeds

These are simple barbecue skewers.

I had an overabundance of various sizes in my kitchen pantry. Typically they come packaged 100 per bag – and I am never going to grill with that many skewers. 🙂

Supplies:

Skewers or reeds made for diffusers like these or these. And how cool are these wavy reeds?!
Glass containers with a very small neck opening – like this set or this one.
Carrier oil such as fractionated coconut oil, sweet almond oil, grapeseed oil or almond oil.
Essential oils

How to make a reed diffuser:

Using garden limb loppers, I cut off the pointy tips of each skewer.
Again using the garden limb loppers, I did a fresh cut on the opposite end of each skewer.
In a small bowl mix 1/4 cup carrier oil with desired essential oils. Stir well to be sure they are blended.
Pour liquid mixture into glass container.
Place 5-8 skewer or reed sticks into the filled container.
After a few hours, turn all of the reed sticks over and replace into the glass container. This allows the oils to penetrate the entire reed. Continue to flip the reeds every few hours for a couple of days until the reeds are drenched in oil.
After 60 days empty the glass containers and make fresh blends.

In this photo you can see all of the tiny holes that allow the liquid mixture to penetrate the reeds.

What is a carrier oil?

Carrier oils are mainly oils extracted from the nuts, seeds or kernels of plants. Being fairly neutral, carrier oils compliment essential oils and are an excellent choice for diluting essential oils. The carrier oil keeps the essential oils from drying out. This also makes for great scrubs, salves, hair and skin treatments.

For these DIY essential oil reed diffuser recipes I used organic 100% pure fractionated coconut oil. This is basically melted or liquid coconut oil NOT cooking oil. It is clear, non-fragrant, very light and non-greasy. You want to use something like THIS.

Containers

It is very important to use a glass jar with a small opening as your diffuser. This keeps your container from drying out and evaporating the essential oils.

I lucked out because I purchased the trio of turquoise bottles at 80% off on clearance. The blue bottle is an antique inkwell that I always have on my desk. I decided to use smaller skewers to make this a desktop diffuser.

Favorite Essential Oil Recipes – FREE Printable

10 Essential Oil Recipes For Diffusing

When I’m working from my desk to create content for this fabulous blog of ours 🙂 I need to be alert and focused. My antique inkwell and mini reeds are soaking in the essential oil recipe “Wake Up”. Peppermint and Wild Orange are a wonderful fragrance combo and they definitely do the trick of keeping me alert.

The peppermint is especially invigorating.

For my bedroom nightstand reed diffuser I mixed up the recipe for “Sleep”. Another winning combination with the mixture Lavender, Cedarwood and Frankincense.

I have been sleeping so much better since I started using these essential oils at bedtime.

Oils do not work the same for everyone. For example, in the evenings I dab a little lavender essential oil behind my ears and on my temples and sleep like a baby. This didn’t work at all for Honey Bee. When he tried the same method with Cedarwood it completely worked like a charm! You just need to find your winning combination.

**Disclaimer** I am by no means an essential oil expert or doctor. It’s just that when I discover something that works for me, I share it with the hope that it will work for you too.

I would love to hear what your favorite winning essential oil combos are!