Can Essential Oils Really Replace Mr. Clean?
The short answer is: Yes, essential oils replace traditional cleaning products for common bacteria found in bathrooms.
Many people are introduced to essential oils for the first time by hearing that essential oils have replaced chemical cleaners for a more natural home. Who wouldn’t be interested replacing all the unpronounceable chemicals around them with something simple and clean? Lets be honest that’s what got you interested too right?
Testing the theory
So I spent a little over a month doing a little experiment at home thanks to my inner sixth grader. I got Petri dishes and went to it. I clean the bathrooms every other week (used to be weekly but babies happen), with Scrubbing Bubbles.
So the first week I cleaned as normal and then swabbed what I cleaned into the Petri dishes. The second week I used distilled water and vinegar with lemon essential oil instead of Scrubbing bubbles. The third week, I used distilled water and vinegar with tea tree essential oil and the final week I used distilled water and vinegar with Eucalyptus essential oil.
I took a picture of the Petri dishes each week to see growth of bacteria in order to compare 1 weeks growth at a time. Here’s the order of what cleaned the best in terms of the least amount of growth in the week, meaning the cleaning solution killed the most bacteria at the time of cleaning.
- Lemon essential oil
- Tea Tree essential oil
- Scrubbing Bubbles
- Eucalyptus essential oil
The lemon concoction blew everything else out of the water plus, in my opinion, it smells way better.
Lemon Drop Cleaner
Natural cleaner for use in the bathroom
Ingredients
- 10 drops Lemon Essential Oil
- 1 oz Distilled Water
- 1 oz Vinegar
Instructions
- Measure 1 oz distilled water and pour into glass spray bottle
- Measure 1 oz vinegar and pour into glass spray bottle
- Directly in glass spray bottle, dispense 10 drops of Lemon essential oil. If you're EO bottle has an orifice reducer, great easy step for you! If your EO bottle doesn't have an orifice reduce, then you'll need to use a pipette to dispense the 10 drops.
Notes
To Use: Shake well to mix oil and water together before each use.
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
So the next time you get last minute company dropping by, after you shove everything under the bed or in the closet. Let essential oils replace your chemical products and whip up one of these cleaners to disinfect and freshen your home!
Bonus Recipe
Germaphobe Cleaner
Natural cleaner for the bathroom with essential oils.
Ingredients
- 1 oz Distilled Water
- 1 oz Vinegar
- 5 drops Lemon Essential Oil
- 5 drops Tea Tree Oil
Instructions
- Measure 1 oz distilled water and pour into glass spray bottle.
- Measure 1 oz vinegar and pour into glass spray bottle.
- Add 5 drops Lemon essential oil into glass spray bottle.
- Add 5 drops Tea Tree essential oil into glass spray bottle.
Notes
To Use: Shake well before each use to mix oil and water together again since they naturally separate.
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
Now that your bathroom is all clean why not check out one of these recipes for an aromatherapy bath!
