While driving, a whiff of a great scent can help you feel great and energized. This is especially true during long rides and in heavy traffic. There are a wide variety of car fresheners available in the market. But what if you don’t find any scent that appeals to you?
Perhaps you’re looking for car freshies that share the same scent as your favorite fragrance. Or maybe you’re exploring and checking out where else to look for car freshies. Well then, making your car freshener might be the answer you’re looking for.
What are Car Freshies?
Car freshies are hanging air fresheners used in cars, lockers, drawers, and closets. These usually take the scent of fragrance or essential oils. The term “freshie” is a shortened word for car air freshener.
There isn’t a strict guideline on how to make car freshies, as long as you use the most fundamental ingredients. So, the freshie’s scent and shape are entirely up to you.
Car freshies are often molded into shapes using cookie cutters or ice molds. They may even appear in the traditional car-shaped form by setting them in car ice cube trays.
The Benefits of Car Freshies
The primary benefit of using car fresheners is the pleasant fragrance they imbue in the vehicle. Such a benefit is especially beneficial during long drives and heavy traffic. But is there anything more to car freshies than that?
One may wonder if car freshies have other benefits besides their pleasant scent. However, there are several benefits of using car freshies. These include the following:
1. Availability in various shapes and forms.2. Total elimination of bad smells.
3. It Provides a feeling of freshness.
4. Variety of scent options.
5. Act as disinfectant.
Their benefits are attached to the kind of fragrance used in each car freshie. Nonetheless, they’d help with providing a pleasant ambiance inside the car. Who doesn’t feel good when such a lovely smell surrounds you?
DIY Car Freshies With Fragrance Oils
Home-made car freshies either use fragrance oils or scented oils. The critical ingredient for freshies to hold onto their scents is the use of aroma beads. These aroma beads can hold approximately 20-30% fragrance or scented oil. The maximum fragrance load for each bead may vary depending on the oil used.

The aroma beads generally have a more pungent scent, adding more fragrance oil. So, if you aren’t sure how much oil to add, you may want to stop pouring once you’ve reached the scent you like with less fragrance. However, it’s still very much according to your preferences. There are a lot of great oil for cars in the market and among them are Egyptian musk essential oil and lick me all over fragrance oil.
Also, note that the beads shouldn’t be allowed to swim in a pool of fragrance oil. Instead, add enough oil scents for the bead to appear wet. Again, it’s better to add small amounts until you reach your preferred scent than to pour the whole thing and regret it later.
Materials - The Supplies You'll Need
To start creating your car freshener, you must gather your materials. The car freshie supplies you’ll need will be aroma beads, fragrance or scented oils, a digital weighing scale, a glass jar with a lid, and pigment or mica (for coloring).

Of course, you should also prepare some soap and water. Also, have some towels ready to clean up any spills. And avoid the fragrance or essential oils from making contacting your eyes and mouth.
Technique - How to Make Car Freshies the Easy Way
There may be a ton of ways of making car freshies. So, how do you make a car freshie the easy way? Here is a 7-step technique for making your own hanging car air freshener. The method below assumes an 82 ratio of beads to oil.
1. Weigh the aroma beads
You can do this by weighing the glass jar first and pressing “tare” to set the jar’s weight as zero. Then, add the beads for weighing. For beginners who want a more specific amount to start with, you could add eight ounces of aroma beads to follow the ratio.
2. Pour the oil
Slowly add your choice of fragrance or essential oil until the scale reads ten ounces. However, if you wish for a stronger or weaker scent, you can go with your preference and not follow the ratio.
3. Shake the jar every few hours
Shaking helps the aroma beads absorb the oil scents and dry faster.
4. Cure the beads
Curing the beads is where aroma beads absorb the fragrance or essential oils. The process ends when all the beads are dry. Curing takes about 7-10 days, depending on the type of fragrance or essential oil used.
5. Add pigment or mica
Make sure all the aroma beads are dry before adding your pigments. Only add a small amount and shake until the color of the aroma beads are even. Before proceeding to the next step, wait a day or two to dry the beads.
6. Mold the beads
After making sure that the beads are dry and pigmented, it’s time to mold them into your preferred shape. Here you use either cookie cutters or heat-resistant ice trays.
Make sure you do this on parchment paper to prevent it from sticking. You can attach a nail between to make a hole for the freshie so you can tie a ribbon around it later when it dries.
7. Bake
Bake the beads for about ten minutes to ensure they melt into your desired shape. Afterward, remove them from the oven and cool them before popping them out of the cookie cutter.
Place in Your Vehicle and Enjoy!
Now you've learned how to make a car freshie. You can enjoy your rides with your favorite fragrances. This simple car freshener recipe will get you to make more freshies and eliminate malodor such as burning rubber smell from car. You can also explore using other fragrances and essential oils.
They also make cute gifts for your friends and family that enjoy different scents. However, always be careful when working with fragrances and essential oils. Take note of any skin allergies and sensitivities and read your labels.
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