Before you dive into blindly purchasing an aromatherapy diffuser, you should read up on what each type of diffuser does and how will each suit your needs. One mistake that many people make is not researching enough on the various aromatherapy diffusers in the market, only to end up with one that doesn't fully meet your requirements.
What is an aromatherapy diffuser?
An aromatherapy diffuser is a device or a machine that uses essential oils to produce scent in the atmosphere. You should know by now that just by simply opening up a bottle of essential oil and placing on a table will not get the scent out of the bottle, and you need something in place to let the essential oil work its magic.
That "something", is what we call an aromatherapy diffuser. It can be in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and if you think that you have never owned one, you may be wrong because even your everyday household products can become an aromatherapy diffuser!
What kinds of aromatherapy diffusers are there in the market?
Burner
The oldest and the most common aromatherapy diffuser is the traditional candle burner. This method of diffusing is still frequently used throughout the world, but with growing concerns of safety, many users have switched from candle burners to electric burners. The concept of using heat to activate the scent from the essential oil is still the same, but the only difference is the source of heat. Traditional candle burners use tealight candles while the electric ones use light bulbs.
With burners, there are a few things to watch out for; ensuring that the burner is constantly being heated, the water is never dry, and no flammable objects is in its vicinity. Of course, once you want to stop diffusing the scent, there is a whole lot of cleaning that needs to be done before you walk away. It may seem like too much of an effort just for wanting to let the place smell nice, but there is another low-maintenance alternative - reed diffusers!
Reed Diffuser
A reed diffuser is a bottle of essential oil based diffuser liquid, and to make it work, you will need to immerse a bunch of long porous rattan reed sticks into the diffuser liquid while letting the top ends of the reed stick out in the air. Do note that the reed sticks need to be longer than the bottle itself, this allows the diffuser liquid to travel the up the reed sticks and disperse in the atmosphere over time.
Although low maintenance, reed diffusers still need some watching over, especially if the environment has young children or if the bottle is situated in a place where it is easily knocked over. Additionally, the reed sticks have to be flipped at least once a week for the scent to be continually be diffused out.
Nebulisers
Burners and reed diffusers are sufficient for a common room, but if you want to scent up a larger area like your living room or an office space, then you will need a nebuliser. Nebulisers are machines that run on vibration to break down the molecules of essential oil, making these micro-droplets of essential oil easier to be absorbed into our bloodstream, thus maximising the effects and benefits of the essential oil.
Nebulisers are also safe to use because there is no heating element involved, and there is also no need to dilute the essential oils into water. What you get is the scent of the essential oil in its purest, undiluted form. If you want a diffuser that is potent and enough to cover a large area, then a nebuliser is the one for you.