The Complete Guide on How (and Why) to use a Waterless Essential Oil Diffuser

This post contains affiliate links from which I may earn a commission, if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Folks that purchase the AromaTru diffuser or essential oils through my affiliate link will automatically receive a discount on those products. As of the writing of this blog, essential oils are 30% off and the diffuser is $79 until December 4th, 2024.

The Benefits of Essential Oil Diffusion

So many people have heard of essential oils, but as a Certified Holistic Aromatherapist, I find that many people are still confused about how to use essential oils. Always look to nature for an example when approaching plant medicine. The way we experience essential oils in nature is, well, through the air. We breathe them when we are walking through the forest or as heady spring blossoms waft on warm breezes.

Essential oil diffusion is the safest and most effective way to take the health-supporting benefits of essential oils into the body. When essential oils are inhaled, they immediately interact with the emotional center in the brain, helping to modulate the fight-or-flight response. They tone the respiratory tract and are absorbed into the blood stream through the lungs. And all this happens with little to no risk for healthy adults.

Studies on essential oil diffusion show that essential oils help support our immune response. They can enhance concentration and focus. There are also promising studies for more serious diseases and conditions that may be supported through essential oil diffusion.

Drawbacks of Essential Oil Diffusion

Essential Oil Diffusion Safety

Diffusion is by far the safest way to use essential oils on a regular and ongoing basis. There are a few cautions and a few things to be aware of.

Diffusion is great for most everyone with a few exceptions. Folks with breathing issues like COPD and those with asthma are going to want to go very slowly with essential oil diffusion. People with allergies may be allergic to the essential oil of the same plants to which they have allergies.

Additionally, diffusion is not ideal for infants. Their systems can be easily overwhelmed. If you choose to diffuse, I would suggest strongly diluting your essential oils or diffusing a hydrosol instead.

The amount of essential oil you diffuse into your space should be in proportion to the size of your room and also the ages and general health of those who are spending time in it.

If you have pets, you want to make sure they can get away from the diffuser if they feel the scent is too strong. Not only are their noses more acute than ours, they process essential oils differently in their bodies. This is especially true for cats who can experience kidney failure from essential oil exposure.

There are some essential oils that are not well-suited for diffusion because they are so strong and some that should not be diffused at all because of their hot nature. Be careful when diffusing spicy essential oils as many of them are mucous membrane irritants. I also advise against diffusing oregano essential oil and some chemo types of thyme essential oil as they are far too potent (and in fact, I do not recommend oregano essential oil for home use at all).

Also note that any essential oils that have oxidized and are basically beyond their natural shelf life have the potential to be caustic.

If you are curious about using essential oils safely, I have another blog where I go more extensively into this topic. For now, having provided the above cautions and reminding you that your health is your responsibility, let's dive more into how and why to use a waterless essential oil diffuser.

Problems with Essential Oil Diffusers that Use Water

Essential oil diffusers that use water have several drawbacks. Firstly, you have to add water and do a lot of ongoing maintenance to clean them. If you do not, you will find mold growing, and yes, it will happen even if you use the MLM essential oils that are purported not to grow mold due to "magical" qualities attributed to them. I have tested this claim and found it to be categorically false magical thinking. All essential oils, left in water, in the right environment long enough, can end up growing mold in them. And you may not even realize it as they will often grow slime molds that don't look or act like what you would typically consider mold.

Secondly, essential oil diffusers that use water do further dilute the potency of your essential oils and usually offer less options to customize your diffusion therapy.

These two reasons, coupled with my own personal mold allergy are why I no longer use essential oil diffusers with water and why I have switched exclusively to waterless essential oil diffusion.

Waterless Essential Oil Diffusion Benefits

Once you switch to a waterless essential oil diffuser, you will likely not go back. There are several benefits of waterless essential oil diffusion. First, the cleaning and maintenance of this diffuser is minimal.

Secondly, waterless essential oil diffusers are easy to use and tend to allow you more freedom to customize your diffusion experience the way you would want.

Thirdly, waterless essential oil diffusers keep the potency of the essential oil without it being further diluted with water, allowing your diffusion experience to be deeply therapeutic.

Fourthly, some of the waterless essential oil diffusers on the market are even programmable, both manually and through an essential oil diffuser app.

The AromaTru Waterless Essential Oil Diffuser

Several years back I took an advanced certification in essential oil diffusion from the well known aromatherapist, Gabriel Mojay, whereupon I was introduced to waterless diffusion with the AromaTru diffuser.

I love this diffuser, and I have done quite a few videos on how to use a waterless essential oil diffuser like the AromaTru diffuser. Check out this quick video where I show the basics of how to use the AromaTru Waterless Diffuser.

Review of the AromaTru Waterless Essential Oil Diffuser & Essential Oils

The AromaTru Certified Organic Essential Oils

Gabriel, himself, sourced all of AromaTru's Certified Organic essential oils himself, and they do not disappoint. I describe the AromaTru essential oils overall to be very sparkly and effervescent--not a surprise since Mr. Mojay basically wrote the book on the psycho-spiritual aspects of essential oils.

I have nothing negative or bad to say about any of the essential oils that AromaTru carries--and I have tried nearly every single one. If you are wondering about the best essential oils for diffusion, they also have quite a number of collections organized for your particular desires. For instance, if you are looking for essential oils for stress relief, check out their Tranquility or Slumber collections.

One thing I appreciate about all the essential oils carried by AromaTru is that none of them have any specific safety concerns we would need to be concerned with. I did this unboxing video recently where I share about 12 different essential oils from AromaTru if you would like to hear more about them.

Benefits of the AromaTru Waterless Diffuser

The AromaTru diffuser really does have my heart. Using this waterless diffuser has become part of my morning routine as I meditate, do qi gong, and stretch before my day. I am able to choose four different essential oils at a time, or any combination there of, but quickly locking them into the atomizer heads. I love that you can choose the length of time of each diffusion burst, the frequency with which your essential oils diffuse, and the overall length of time--anywhere between 10 minutes and 8 hrs.

Being able to manually program the essential oil diffuser like this has major benefits when you don't feel well. Studies have shown that intermittent essential oil diffusion is more effective for helping the body battle a bug. With the AromaTru you have tight control over what that looks like for your situation.

For those who are tech savvy, AromaTru offers upgraded diffuser options that include an app where you can create different diffuser programs for different times of day or situations. You can reorder your oils straight from the app.

I personally have found that I use less essential oil with the AromaTru diffuser simply because the diffusion is so potent. For this same reason, I have experienced the AromaTru to be an excellent diffuser useful to improve diffusion in large spaces.

Because of the ease of use, I find this to be the best essential oil diffuser for home use for novice & experienced user alike. If you have zero experience with essential oils and limited knowledge on how to blend essential oils, I would highly recommend starting with the AromaTru diffuser.

This is a quiet essential oils diffuser. I have other waterless gorgeous looking essential oil diffusers that I, frankly, have stopped using because their internal pumps are so mechanical and noisy sounding. As you can see from my videos on this topic, the AromaTru waterless essential oil diffuser is whisper quiet.

This is a very portable essential oil diffuser. It's easy to unplug and move around to different areas of your home or space. It doesn't take up much room, but it's big enough to do the job. Bonus: you don't have to worry about the water spilling while you move it.

You don't have to count drops with this essential oil diffuser. No math. This, in my book, is always good.

Drawbacks of the AromaTru Diffuser

Being picky here, but in the interest of full transparency, there are a few downsides to the AromaTru waterless essential oil diffuser. While ongoing maintenance is very minimal, you do need to run a cleaning solution through your atomizer heads from time-to-time. This is actually super easy to do and takes very little time.

I have also found that over time the atomizer heads can become clogged, and that having a long, fine pointed tool to clean out the little components of the atomizer head can help. I notice for myself that this happens most often when I am diffusing the citrus essential oils frequently.

The atomizer heads fit any standard size and shape of essential oil bottles .5 oz (15 ml) quantity. BUT, they do not work with bottles that are not that size or shape.

You also obviously cannot diffuse hydrosols in the AromaTru diffuser, so I do still have a water diffuser around for the rare occasion I want to do that.

AromaTru states that the diffuser is only optimized for use with their oils. I confess I have used the essential oils from many other companies in this diffuser with no additional issues than those mentioned above.

You can't diffuser more than four essential oils at a time. This is actually a benefit as well as a drawback, because, unless you are highly skilled at blending, using more than four essential oils at a time can be counterproductive to your wellness goals.

Even with these few drawbacks, I have found the AromaTru to be much easier to use, and I find I am working diffusion into my wellness routine far more frequently because of it. It helps make my work day have more focus and energy, and I also notice I am sick less frequently. Very likely, my body is experiencing many other benefits as well.

Deals on Waterless Essential Oil Diffusers & Essential Oils

For a limited time (until December 4th, 2024) here are the amazing deals to be had on this diffuser.

Buy an AromaTru Diffuser and receive $91 Off!

Regular Price: $170

Sale Price: $99

Sale-on-Sale Price: $79

PLUS

30% off ALL essential oils

Did I answer all of your questions about the diffuser in this article? If not, please ask in the comments below or check out my AromaTru playlist.