Diffusing Wisdom video series: All about diffusing essential oils

Part 1: Types of Diffusers

In this 5:39 minute video you’ll learn:

• the pros and cons of ultrasonic and nebulizing diffusers

• the role of habituation in how the two types of diffusers work

• what each is best for

I welcome questions! Put them in comments below and I’ll cover them in future installments!

Transcription of video:

Hi, this is aromatherapist Dori Bell from The Blossom Bar. I'm doing a series called Diffusing Wisdom, all about diffusers with essential oils. Today's topic will be the types of diffusers. So we're going to cover ultrasonic diffusers and nebulizing diffusers.

Ultrasonic diffusers vs. nebulizing diffusers for essential oils

So the first thing we're going to talk about is what's the most common kind of diffuser, when people think of diffusers, is an ultrasonic diffuser. So it runs on water. There's water in here. You put your essential oils on top of the water and the ultrasonic thing shakes the water really fast and the essential oils and the vapor release into the air into the room. So the pros of that, first of all, of a ultrasonic diffuser are the price point. They're usually not very expensive and it also acts as a humidifier. So if you need a humidifier, why not kill two birds with one stone? You've got your humidifier and you've just put the essential oils in it and then it's a diffuser.

It offers steady diffusing which is great for pharmacological needs. So if you have some respiratory issues or sinus problems, and you want a steady dose, kind of a steady exposure to the essential oils, ultrasonic diffusers are a good solution, especially because it does offer the moisture as well for the air.

The drawbacks of an ultrasonic diffuser

So the cons of ultrasonic diffusers are they're made from plastic and usually involve light, and the combination of plastic and light with essential oils is not the best thing for the therapeutic quality value of the essential oil. You can't really control the intensity of the odor. You can't control how much of the essential oil is being released into the air at a time. They're mostly humidifiers. Not a whole lot of the essential oil, the molecular value, content of the essential oil really gets into your bloodstream with those. Because of habituation with the brain, the brain turns off repeated stimuli because it needs to be ready for new information coming in. It'll turn off the stimuli coming from the essential oils and that's kind of like that nose blind situation where you don't smell things after a while.

So with thane ultrasonic diffuser, one that diffuses steadily all the time, you're not really getting the psychological and emotional benefits that come from it. That are such a huge part of the healing value of essential oils. There's maintenance with these. They can grow bacteria and mold, even though a lot of essential oils are antimicrobial and things like that. I mean, unless you're using distilled water and keeping this pretty clean in between uses, you might end up actually putting mold and bacteria into the air.

And people tend to overuse essential oils with these. So it becomes a sustainability issue. With the overuse of a very valuable product, the essential oils, people tend to use too many and combine them in ways that don't provide therapeutic value when they're using ultrasonic diffusers.

The benefits of a nebulizing diffuser for essential oils

So then you've got the nebulizing diffusers. This is the kind that I use. It's right here. Isn't she pretty? Yes. So pretty. So this is glass and a wood base. You pour the... Just the essential oils go in here. They go into the bottom and this releases a vapor that is pure essential oil. The benefits of that, the pros of that, first of all, is it's very targeted support and you can control the intensity of the odor and how much is coming out at once.

So a lot of times with essential oils, less is more, especially when it comes to therapeutic value, depending on what's going on with your body and other different issues. So it provides very targeted support. This nebulizing diffuser, most of them are intermittent. So that means it's on for 10 minutes, off for 10 minutes, for example, which allows the brain to keep getting that stimuli. So it actually not only impacts pharmacologically and with the body physiologically, but it continues to impact psychologically and emotionally. So you get the full spectrum of benefit from the essential oil.

There's very little maintenance. You just really have to wash it out with a little bit of Everclear or 91% isopropyl alcohol in between uses. No worry about releasing molds and bacterias into the air. This actually produces smaller particles. So the essential oils are more easily absorbed into the bloodstream, into the lungs. So you get, again, more of the impact of the essential oil. Because you're using less essential oil, it's better for sustainability. You're using less product to make it work.

The drawbacks of a nebulizing diffuser

The cons for this are they are more expensive. So this one was, I think, $90. I mean, you can find ultrasonic diffusers that are up to 90 bucks too, but this is a very, very good nebulizing diffuser around 90 bucks.

So there you go. There's the high points for the two different types of diffusers. Any comments, please leave them below and I will answer whatever questions you have. Till next time!