Can You Use Fragrance Oil in Your Wax Warmer?

If you like experimenting with different aromas to keep your home smelling fresh, you must have a wax warmer and at least one drawer full of fragrance oils.

So, it’s an obvious question – can you use fragrance oil in wax warmer?

Is it safe? Will it fill your home with the lovely aroma of the oil of your choosing?

Here are the pros and cons of using fragrance oils in wax warmers:

Can You Use Fragrance Oils in Your Wax Warmer?

I’ve seen some people saying you can, and some saying you can’t. I’ve read both sides of the argument, and I’ve tested it on my own wax warmer – and here are my two cents.

Most wax warmers are not designed to be used with oils. And, a lot of oils are not designed to be heated up and used to release a scent. So, sometimes it’s just not going to work.

Related – Can you use Vicks in a wax warmer?

There are some exceptions to this rule though. I’ve also included an awesome solution to this problem at the end of this post. Hint – melting plain wax chips with your oils.

With pets and children in the house, my main concern is always safety. I’m not 100% sure it’s safe to warm up fragrance oils, so that’s reason enough for me not to do it.

So, if you want to try using oils in your warmer, here are some of the things you need to be aware of:

The Difference Between Essential Oil and Fragrance Oil

First of all, it still amazes me how many people use the words essential and fragrance interchangeably when talking about oils.

They are very different and are used for different reasons.

In a nutshell; essential oils are made from naturally occurring plant extracts and provide some powerful healing and wellness benefits. While fragrance oils are synthetic man-made oils designed to smell like certain plants, flowers, and other things.

Fragrance oils are much more likely to cause skin irritations, respiratory issues, and more. In fact, this article takes a dive into some of the potentially serious health issues associated with some fragrance oils.

Being man-made, this also means fragrance oils, also known as aromatic oils, flavor oils, and aroma oils can vary in their chemical composition. Making it hard to get an answer as to which are safe (if any are) to melt.

This is why you have to be very careful about warming them up and diffusing them into the air you’re breathing. You are effectively breathing in chemicals, which may or may not be harmful.

Potential Issues With Putting Oils in Your Wax Warmer

Here are some of the potential issues with using fragrance oils in your warmer:

It Might Be Difficult to Clean Afterwards

Oils are messy. If you’ve ever spilled some you’ll be all too aware of this. I’ve also found that after using them in my warmer if I let them cool after it’s almost impossible to clean off every last bit of residue.

This might not be reason enough for you not to use them, for people who like to keep their stuff looking as good as new it’s really annoying.

You Might Void Your Warranty

If you read the instructions and warranty booklet that came with your wax warmer, you should find some directions of use.

Looking at the warranty card for my Scentsy warmer, it clearly says that if I use it for anything other than directed – my warranty is void.

That means using it to melt or heat anything other than wax melts. So, if I heat fragrance oils – even though I know it won’t harm it – my warranty is void.

You Need to Check It’s Safe

Fragrance oils are blended with synthetic compounds, and as such, they can vary from brand to brand. Before warming up anything that’s going to go into the air you breathe, you should always check it’s safe chemically.

Being as it’s a liquid, which is much thinner than a wax melt you also need to place your warmer somewhere if a little oil spits out it will not damage anything.

Related – Here’s why it’s not safe to put fabric softener in your warmer.

Why Not Use Wax Chips Too and Make Your Own Wax/Tart

If you want to the best of both worlds; using your wax warmer to melt your favorite fragrance oils, and being sure you’re using your warmer how it was intended – you should try adding some wax chips.

Wax chips are basically plain wax chips that you can place in your warmer, along with a few drops of oil, to create a wax melt.

Pretty cool, eh!

Here is an example of what I’m talking about. This is a big bag of wax chips available on Amazon:

In Summary

If you want to use fragrance oils to scent your home, there are better and safer ways than using them in your wax warmer.

Tart warmers are not designed to warm up oils, Especially not fragrance oils as they can vary so vastly in their chemical composition.

My advice is to use wax chips as I discussed above if you really want to use oils. Or, pick up wax melts that match the scent of the oil you want to use.

It’s just not worth the risk of damaging your warmer. Or, as I also discussed above, it’s not worth dispersing the chemicals in fragrance oils into the air without being 100% that it’s completely safe.