In this post you will find out all about the personal inhaler for use with essential oils. You will also get 16 personal inhaler recipes to use for various wellness issues.
Did you know that inhalation of essential oils is the fastest and safest way to get the benefits of the essential oils? It’s true, aromatherapy is beneficial on on both the emotional and physical level via inhalation. Read on to find out more about using personal inhalers.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information.
About Diffusing by Inhalation
Essential oils are best absorbed into the blood stream via inhalation. There are a few ways to do this. In this post I’m going to talk about diffusing with an ultrasonic diffuser and the pros and cons to this. The cons are what I want you to pay more attention to, because it’s the reason why we want to use inhalation with a personal inhaler.
Ultrasonic Diffuser Use
The first way to diffuse is using an ultrasonic diffuser which produces a fine mist or vapor to disburse essential oils throughout the room. Sometimes it may not be possible to diffuse with an ultrasonic diffuser. Below are a few pros and cons to using an ultrasonic diffuser.
Keep Reading: How Many Drops Of Essential Oil Do You Put In A Diffuser?
The Pros of Diffusing by an Ultrasonic Diffuser
- Room wide disbursement of essential oils
- Adds moisture to the air – humidifies
- Hands off approach to diffusing
- Scents the room
- Benefits more than one person
The Cons of Diffusing by an Ultrasonic Diffuser
- You can’t take it with you
- What you are diffusing may not be safe for others or pets. This is an important one. Many essential oils are not safe for certain individual or pets. I’ll go over more of this in the Safety section below.
So What Do You Do if You Can’t Use an Ultrasonic Diffuser?
Personal Inhaler Use
Another way of diffusing it with a personal inhaler.
What is a Personal Inhaler?
A personal inhaler is a small device that looks like a lipstick tube or lip balm tube. There are a couple kinds of inhalers available. One being an aluminum inhaler. This looks most like a lipstick tube. Another is a plastic inhaler that looks more like a lip balm/chap stick tube.
I prefer the aluminum personal inhalers. While more expensive than the plastic inhalers, they last longer, are reusable and are easier to open. The plastic ones are harder to open, often taking a pair of plyers to open. They can be reused but being that they are made out of plastic, essential oils may eat away at the plastic. Please read Why Does Lemon Essential Oil Eat Plastic? for more information about essential oils eating away at plastic.
Whichever you pick to use they both have the same pieces. A lid, a base or cap or plug, a nose piece which is the inhaler part of the device and a cotton wick to hold your essential oils. See the picture below for details of what both the aluminum and plastic inhalers look like and their parts.
Pros To Using a Personal Inhaler
- Small and portable. Take them anywhere you go, they are small enough to fit into a pocket, purse, or backpack.
- Inexpensive way to use your essential oils without taking full bottles with you
- Easily get the relief you need from many common ailments with just a whiff from your inhaler. (See the recipes at the end of this post).
- Customizable with many recipes to choose from.
- Perfect for use if you want to keep the scent away from children or pets.
Cons To Using a Personal Inhaler
- Easy to lose.
- For the plastic inhalers, essential oils can eat away over time at the plastic.
- Heat will oxidize the essential oils, so keep out of hot cars. This is the case with an essential oil at any time, not just in a personal inhaler.
How Does Inhalation Work?
As I mentioned before, using inhalation is the fastest way to get the essential oils into your blood stream. As you inhale essential oils through your nose, tiny molecules enter your blood stream. Your “smell” receptors trigger a response from your amygdala and hippocampus in your brain. This is your limbic system that is responsible for emotions and memories. The limbic system also regulates heart rate, blood pressure, memory, sleep/wake cycles, addiction, and hormone balance. Because of this the limbic system controls the feelings of anxiety, stress, fear, anger, depression, happiness, and other feelings. Your sense of smell is a powerful tool.
How Do You Make a Personal Inhaler?
You Will Need:
- One Personal Inhaler
- Small glass/metal bowl or paper towel
- Tweezers
- Essential Oils
First you will take apart your inhaler. Unscrew the lid, take apart the base (or cap or plug), detach the nose piece and remove the cotton wick if it has been inserted to the tube.
Choose the essential oils you will be using or select a recipe from below.
Place the cotton wick inside the glass or metal bowl. Drop the essential oils from your recipe for a total of 15 drops onto the wick. (Use 7-8 drops for a child). If you miss and get oils on the glass bowl, just use your tweezer to move the wick around to soak up the oils.
Alternately you can place the cotton wick onto a folded paper towel and carefully drop the essential oils onto the wick.
For the aluminum personal inhaler slide the cotton wick into the glass vile that attaches to the nose piece. Screw the glass vile and nose piece together. Replace the lid and base.
For the plastic personal inhaler slide the cotton wick into the nose piece, pop on the lid and screw on the cover.
Be sure to label your personal inhalers. This is especially helpful if you have multiple inhalers.
How to Use a Personal Inhaler
After you have added essential oils to your inhaler, you’ll want to use it! It’s super simple.
Remove the lid, place the nasal piece up to or slightly in your nostril. Do whatever is more comfortable for you. Take 1 to 3 deep breathes. Repeat on the other nostril. You can do this as needed to help with whatever ailment you are using the essential oils for.
Keep the inhaler closed whenever you are not using it to keep the scent from diminishing.
To refresh the essential oils simply open and add essential oils to the cotton wick. If you are switching scents use a new wick.
Discontinue use if headache or nausea occurs and get fresh air.
Tips for Using with Children
For children under six years of age the scent can be to intense when holding the nose piece up to their nose. To get around this, try waving the personal inhaler back and forth in front of their nose and let them breathe in the vapors.
Do not insert the inhaler into their nose.
Alternately you could use a diffuser recipe for use in an ultrasonic diffuser.
For children under 6 years of age 15 drops may be to strong for your child. Use half the drops (7-8 drops) when making a personal inhaler for children if this is the case.
Be sure you are using child safe essential oils for your child when making a personal inhaler. I’ve indicated which recipes below are child safe.
How Do You Label a Personal Inhaler?
It is best to label your personal inhaler before you make it. This keeps the essential oils from getting on the outside which would prevent a sticker label from sticking.
To make a label you can use an address sized sticker label that you print out on a computer or simply write the name of the recipe on the sticker.
Alternatively, you can take a piece of paper and write the name on it.
After you have created your label, apply to the outside of the personal inhaler and cover with clear packing tape. This will protect your label from oils or moisture that may damage the label.
How Do You Clean Personal Inhalers?
Other than just wiping down the outside of the inhaler I’ve never really had to clean one. But if you are worried about sanitation, use an alcohol wipe to cleanse the personal inhaler on the nasal opening/nose piece periodically.
The cotton wick can be used repeatedly with the same essential oils, however, overtime the essential oils may oxidize. This means that a chemical reaction occurs if exposed to heat, light or oxygen. If you notice that the essential oils no longer smell the same or are not working as well as they were, the oils may be oxidized. Simply change the wick and add fresh essential oils.
If you want to use the same personal inhaler but with a different scent, simply change out for a new cotton wick.
How Long Do Personal Inhalers Last?
It really depends on how many drops of essential oils you add to the wick (usually 15) and how often you open your inhaler up.
Generally, your personal inhaler can last for 2-3 months. If you use it several times a day for weeks, it may only last a month.
If 15 drops end up being to much for a child, you may only add 7-8 drops and the scent will not last as long as if you had used 15 drops.
Basically, the more you open your inhaler the more scent is released. You’ll just have to refresh the essential oils more often.
What does “Refresh the Essential Oils” Mean?
As mentioned before, the more you open your inhaler, the more scent is release. Overtime, the scent will lesson. When this happens, you will want to refresh the essential oils. This mean to simply add more essential oils to the wick. Use the same recipe as before. If you wish to change the scent, change out the cotton wick to a new one.
Where Can You Get Personal Inhalers?
Amazon has a great selection of both the aluminum and plastic inhalers. I prefer to get my inhalers from RiverTreeLife.com. They are priced right and have a buy one get a duplicate item for free option. I am not an affiliate for River Tree Life, just truly love their products. www.rivertreelife.com
Recipes for Personal Inhalers
Now for the good stuff. Below you will find 16 personal inhaler recipes using common essential oils. Please read the safety section for more information on who essential oils are safe for.
Allergy Inhaler – Safe for kids
- 7 drops Cedarwood (Atlas)
- 5 drops Tea Tree (aka Melaleuca)
- 3 drops Lavender (Bulgarian)
Allergy Inhaler #2 – Safe for kids
- 7 drops Cypress
- 5 drops Mandarin
- 3 drops Lavender (Bulgarian)
Anxiety/Stress – Safe for kids as long as it is the linalool type of Basil
- 7 drops Bergamot
- 5 drops Basil (linalool)
- 3 drops Mandarin
Congestion – Safe for kids
- 7 drops Rosalina
- 5 drops Black Pepper
- 3 drops Sweet Orange
Cough (Dry) –Safe for kids
- 7 drops Cedarwood (Atlas)
- 5 drops Lavender (Bulgarian)
- 3 drops Sweet Orange
Cough (Wet) – Safe for kids
- 7 drops Fir Needle (Siberian)
- 5 drops Spearmint
- 3 drops Lemon
Focus #1 – Safe for kids
- 7 drops Cedarwood (Atlas)
- 5 drops Clary Sage
- 3 drops Vanilla
Focus #2 – Safe for kids
- 7 drops Basil (linalool)
- 5 drops Geranium
- 3 drops Mandarin
Headache – Safe for ages 6 years and up
- 7 drops Peppermint
- 5 drops Sweet Orange
- 3 drops Copaiba
Mental Fatigue #1 – Safe for kids
- 7 drops coffee
- 5 drops Spearmint
- 3 drops Vanilla
Mental Fatigue #2 Safe for ages 6 years and up
- 6 drops Peppermint
- 5 drops Lemon
- 4 drops Basil (linalool)
Nausea – Safe for kids
- 7 drops Lemon
- 5 drops Ginger
- 3 drops Bergamot
Sinusitis (Stuffy Nose) – Safe for kids
- 7 drops Fir Needle (Siberian)
- 5 drops Cedarwood (Atlas)
- 2 drops Lemon
Upset Stomach – Safe for kids
- 7 drops Basil (linalool)
- 5 drops Mandarin
- 3 drops Vanilla
Viral Germs/Cold & Flu #1 – Safe for kids
- 6 drops Bergamot or Lemon
- 5 drops Cinnamon LEAF*
- 4 drops Fir Needle (Siberian)
Viral Germs/Cold & Flue #2 – Safe for kids
- 8 drops Lemon
- 7 drops Tea Tree
*Cinnamon Leaf is an anticoagulant (blood thinning) and should not be used by those on blood thinners or taking aspirin or used before or after surgery. Cinnamon Leaf is safe for pregnant and breastfeeding mother, however, essential oils should not be used in the first trimester or by infants under the age of 6 months.
Safety
Inhalation by personal inhaler is generally safe. It’s important to know the safety issues individual essential oils have. Do your research on oils new to you so you know that you are not using an essential oil that is unsafe for certain individuals. Some essential oils are unsafe for kids, dogs, people on certain medications or with certain health issues such as diabetes. If you are looking for a resource that can help you with this information visit my Etsy Shop and check out my Essential Oil Reference Guides.
Some essential oils may irritate the nasal membranes. Essential oils such as Cinnamon Bark and Leaf, or Oregano, when used, over time, can cause irritation. If you notice any irritations, please discontinue use of these oils.
Some people are more sensitive to some oils when inhaled and this can result in headaches or nausea. If this happens, discontinue use and get to fresh air.
All the essential oils used in the recipes in this post are considered safe for pregnancy, but in general, essential oils should not be used in the first trimester. All essential oils used in this post are considered safe for breastfeeding mothers, but in general, essential oils should not be used around infants, six months and younger.
Wrapping It Up
It’s hard to believe something so small can have a big impact on your wellness. Essential oils have numerous benefits and uses and in this post I’ve shared with you 16 recipes that may help you with certain wellness issues. If you have any questions about the information here please do not hesitate to contact me or leave a comment below!
Looking for quality essential oils? Try Plant Therapy. They offer pure essential oils for a great price. They also offer free shipping in the US. Click the logo below to be taken to Plant Therapy’s website. This is an affiliated link.
This information is for informative and educational uses only. It is not intended to treat, cure, prevent or diagnose any illness. Please consult with your health care professional if you are taking any medications or health issues or have any questions about your health.