When you think of aromatherapy, you probably conjure up a mental idea of essential oils that smell good, that can soothe and relax or energize you. But OLFINITY wants us to know that air pollution is the real problem, and that adding essential oils from candles or diffuser reeds to polluted air is not a solution.
Research shows air pollution is the direct cause of 6 million deaths each year (source WHO) and an exponential increase of allergy issues in the population. On average, people spend 90 percent of their time indoors within homes that can be up to five times more polluted than the outside environment. One of the main contributors to indoor pollution, besides the particulate matters (PM), is the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) coming from paint, varnish, deodorizer and/or other chemicals. As a consequence, the aromatherapy delivering terpenes (a family of VOC) from the essential oils, can be more harmful than good if diffused into a polluted air environment.
You’re home is supposed to be your safe space, so how can you clean the air and still give yourself the aromatherapy you need to relax and feel better, or energize to face the day? OLFINITY says that they have the solution.
Their first-ever intelligent air system brings together components that provide “air quality assessment, air purification and controlled aromatherapy to create an unparalleled indoor health and wellness environment.”
I got to see the OLFINITY system in action — what you are looking at are the small round base that makes it’s gateway hub, the upright diffuser for their aromatherapy capsules, the capsules themselves(they are loaded with organic essential oils, 10 used per capsule, and they are recyclable), the large circular connected air purifier that works in tandem with the system, and the air monitor (the one with the screen) that gives you an exact reading of what is going on concerning air pollution inside your home.
More on each component:
- Air Monitor – assesses the quality in real-time and continuously with precise sensors detecting VOCs (Volatile organic compounds) and PM0.5 (Particulate Matter), PM2.5 and PM10 in addition to temperature and humidity. It can be used either indoor or outdoor thanks to its nomad format (compact, lightweight) and 4h battery life. Data can be read clearly and easily both on the device, the app and on the dedicated OLFINITY server.
- Air Purifier – cleans your indoor air pollution levels when VOC and PM0.5, PM2.5 and PM10 tracked by the Air Monitor device are above the safety standards. The filtering action is based on transparent and clearly stated values
- from international norms such as: World Health Organization (WHO) for the PM and the most rigorous worldwide standard for the VOC (Japan).
- Aromatherapy Diffuser – provides a controlled (duration and dosage) aromatherapy session in a purified air quality. The five OLFINITY aromatherapy blends are specifically formulated in France with organic essential oils. Nicolas Vidal and Jean-Francois Lesgards, OLFINITY chief scientists, explain that “For an optimized aromatherapy session, our system monitors the concentration of actives to remain within an efficacy/safety range in a cleaned environment for a limited duration of the diffusion”. They also underline that the “safety comes from the dry diffusion patented technology.”
- Gateway – The OLFINITY system is managed and connected by WIFI or Bluetooth 5 to the user-friendly OLFINITY app, which gives you remote access of the eco-system and enables you to monitor your air quality, track your air purification and program your aromatherapy sessions as well as view related historical reports.
You can set everything up through the app — and once that’s done, the system will take over from there. You’ll really only need the app after that if you want to check and see what’s going on with your system or how much life is left in the capsules you’ve loaded in the diffuser.
Here’s the gist of what I gleaned from chatting with OLFINITY: Air pollution is everywhere, not just outside. We ride in airplanes and vehicles that trap air pollution, and they are never really cleansed. We come home, to our safe space — we light a candle or have a reed diffuser in place with essential oils — and we use those things for too long of a period and without ever actually cleaning the air around us.
What we wind up doing is causing an environment that is even more polluted than what’s outside! The OLFINITY Intelligent Air System cleans up to a 400 square foot space, constantly monitors the air for purity, and it releases essential oils via the diffuser in 20 minute bursts and specified times of the day so that the oils can actually do what they are intended to do — and then STOPS releasing them. It does all this while looking beautiful, I might add. The OLFINITY system is something you won’t want to hide in a corner, and it will look great anywhere it is placed.
If you use the OLFINITY system, your house won’t smell like a perfume factory (my husband hates that), and you won’t be exposing yourself to long-term essential oil use that can actually cause you harm (I’ve actually had allergic reactions to doing just that — my lips swelled up — it wasn’t pretty).
What you will get is clean, purified air that is set to release essential oils in a focussed way when they are needed — not as an all-day perfume masking underlying issues.
After listening to their researchers explain the issues, I’m going to think twice about those reed diffusers and candles — even though we can all agree that they smell yummy. In the meantime, I am going to start saving money to get the OLFINITY system once it’s released later this year; right now, they are saying it will be about $1500. That’s a steep price, but if it works as promised, I’m interested. You can read more about it here.