OT: How Strong is Aroma Scent Supposed to Be?

[edm_msu]

I went to the local health food store and bought a bottle of Lavender essential oil. The first night I put one drop on a cotton ball and placed the cotton by the air input of my CPAP. The scent was way too strong and caused me to sleep worse than usual. Then I diluted the oil by mixing 10 drops in a half ounce of olive oil. I put a smudge of oil on a cotton ball and did not notice anything.

How strong of a scent is aromatherapy supposed to be? How easily can you smell the scent? If you dilute it, what do you mix it with and what are the amounts? Any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Ed M.

[BlackSpinner]

Every body is different. You will have to experiment. 10:1 olive oil maybe too much dilution. It may also have a scent of its own if it is good oil that fights the one you are using.
Ask at the health food store for a carrier oil. Explain what you are trying to do and they may even have some better ideas for you.

[Pugsy]

Strength of aroma is going to vary with the individual. Sometimes I put a little too much on my cotton ball or the Pur Sleep disc and when I mask up if the aroma is too strong then I just move the cotton ball or disc farther away from the air intake.
I don't bother to try to dilute the oil. I just move the source further away.

[Madalot]

I'm following Pugsy's advice on this one. I bought the Lavender when I bought the starter kit. One drop I couldn't smell at all, two drops same thing, but three drops -- whoa!! So strong it about gagged me. I got up during the night and moved it back.

I'm now experimenting with oils from Bath & Body Works. They have scents that are more to my liking and significantly less expensive ($5 a bottle). "Cotton" scent is pretty intense and a couple drops lasted me three nights! I'm using "Linen" now and I think that will be one that needs more on it to work.

I think it depends on the scent, who makes it and the sensitivity of the individual. It's gonna take a lot of trial and error.

[chunkyfrog]

Although several of the Pur Sleep scents are quite nice for my use,
I keep going back to the half ounce bottle of "Fresh Rain" soap and candle scent I found at Hobby Lobby for $3.
I do wish someone would pack these oils with a dropper, instead of a hole in the top --that's not all that controllable.
And the scent disks do NOT fit inside those little bitty plastic bags!

[Madalot]

Although several of the Pur Sleep scents are quite nice for my use,
I keep going back to the half ounce bottle of "Fresh Rain" soap and candle scent I found at Hobby Lobby for $3.
I do wish someone would pack these oils with a dropper, instead of a hole in the top --that's not all that controllable.
And the scent disks do NOT fit inside those little bitty plastic bags!

I got my disks in the bags, but BARELY. It's real tight fit.

I like several scents now, so what I have done is put each bottle (or sample tube), with its disk in a plastic baggie, into a separate container with a lid. I find that just handling the bottles gives off an aroma that can be overwhelming and all of them together -- wow. When I want to change, I just take the disk and put it back into its baggie (with its scent) then open another scent.

I may have to look at the "Fresh Rain" scent because it sounds like something I would love.

Thanks, Chunkyfrog!

[edm_msu]

Thanks for the lower cost ideas. I'll have to use trial and error to figure this out.

[Sleepyinpdx]

I'm glad I came across this thread about aromatherapy and cpap. I'm fairly new to cpap, just over a month now and still getting used to this new way of life. So, anything that can relax me a bit is good. Last night I tried a couple of drops of pure lavender oil on a cotton ball placed a couple of inches away from the air intake filter and it worked like a charm! Just a light fragrance, not too overpowering. I'm going to get some jasmine essential oil as I've heard that jasmine is the one of the most relaxing scents.

I used to make a lot of soaps, so I'm lucky to still have quite a collection of essential oils. Just a note - I always used pure essential oils in my soaps as there are some quite nasty chemicals in the man made "fragrances". The pure oils are a quite a bit more expensive, but a little goes a long way.

[Madalot]

I'm revamping this thread to share what I have done regarding the Aromatherapy (scents and those pesky little bags for the disks).

When it comes to things like this, I like change, so I have several scents that I use, changing from one to another as my mood suits. Because these bottles emit an odor even when closed, I needed to come up with an organized way to store them, with easy access, but keeping the odors from overpowering my room.

I know that regular cotton balls/pads would work, but I really like the disks so I ordered a few more from cpap.com. But those bags are TINY.

Amazon sells a case of bags and I *think* they are just enough bigger to make getting the disk in easier. I'm going to order them and see (after I measure the bags I have to see what I'm dealing with, but I think they are 1" x 1" and I'm going 1.25" x 1.25". If that's not big enough, Amazon has others that are still slightly larger.

Most of the scents I'm using now are from Bath & Body Works, mostly because they are more appealing to me (are significantly less expensive as well). Storing each scent (with its disk) was becoming problematic because I wanted each scent in its own, sealed container. We shopped over the weekend, high and low and I just could not find what I thought would work.

A trip to the grocery store resolved it -- Baby Food Jars! Not Gerber (too short to store the bottles) but Beechnut has EXACTLY the right size and height in jars. Getting them cleaned up was a bit of a chore, but once I found out that fingernail polish removes the leftover label glue, it was pretty easy from there. I made labels on the computer and put a label on each lid.

I now have a plastic box with 8 baby food jars, each containing an essential oil & a disk in a baggie, with a label on top telling me which scent it contains.

[chunkyfrog]

Note:
Hobby Lobby or Michael's has a couple sizes or so of the small zip bags in the bead department.
Sometimes they are on SALE.

[Madalot]

Note:
Hobby Lobby or Michael's has a couple sizes or so of the small zip bags in the bead department.
Sometimes they are on SALE.

Cool! I just measured the bags and it turns out I was WAY off. The bags that come with the disks are approximately 1.25 x 2, so I'm ordering 2 x 2. The bags seem tall enough, just not wide enough, so 2 x 2 should be about right!

[chunkyfrog]

I found that the 2X3 bag will hold the larger vial, too.

[Madalot]

I found that the 2X3 bag will hold the larger vial, too.

Interesting. Maybe I will go get that size as well so I can try to put the bottles in as well.

Thank you!

[base2balls]

I use a drop or two so it is not strong at all. You can buy those little bags at any place that sells craft items and jewelry making items. Or use small envelopes until you get the bags. Have a great day, Huggies, Fay