If how to make attar at home is something you have been wondering about then you are at the right place.

Used traditionally for ages in the Eastern world, attar is now also gaining immense popularity in the western world. It is becoming the preferred choice of perfume for more and more people and fragrance connoisseurs everywhere are loving it. And in the world of perfumery, attar has carved a significant place for itself.

Moreover, since this scent or perfume is all-natural, it also comes with several benefits. So, using an attar is definitely a wonderful habit and if you don’t already, you must start using it.

The best part is that you can also easily make attar at your home. We will tell you all about it but first, let us tell you more about what attar actually is.

What is Attar?

Attar is a luxurious and rich alcohol free and chemical free oil-based perfume derived from fresh botanicals. It can either be derived from the petals of flowers, spices, herbs or even barks. In fact, the word ‘attar’ itself means scent in the Arabic language.

These perfumes are distilled using completely natural methods from the botanicals. And since they are highly concentrated, they are sold in very small quantities.

Attars have an enchanting smell and they are very long-lasting as well. Applying just a dab or two of an attar on your inner wrists/ neck/ behind earlobes is the best way of experiencing its magical fragrance all day long.

In several cultures of the world, especially in the Indian and Middle Eastern cultures, attar has been in use for several hundred years. Owing to it being all-natural, more and more people are now realizing the wonderful benefits of using an attar.

Now that you have an idea about what is attar, let us take a look at how you can make it at home.

How is Attar actually made?

The pure and natural attar that you find in the markets is produced on a large scale using large utensils or other machinery. It is quite a labour intensive as well as time consuming process that requires great skill, patience and utmost attention to detail.

In India, the attar is traditionally distilled using the deg bhapka- a vintage attar distillation vessel. The ‘deg’ is basically a copper pot in which the petals of the flowers and water are mixed. The deg is then sealed and then connected to the receiver (bhapka, a long-necked receiver also made of copper) using a bamboo pipe. And a base oil, which is usually the oil of sandalwood is then poured in the bhapka.

After this, the deg is actually fired and heated well. After the deg gets fired well, the vapour from the ingredient used gets collected into the bhapka, it gets condensed and its fragrance is collected by the base oil.

This is how attar is commercially made and the process is definitely more complicated than it sounds. While it is not possible and kind of impractical to follow this process of attar making at home, we have simpler hacks that you can use to make an attar of your choice at your home.

How to make Attar at Home

Here, we will be sharing three simple methods for making attar at home with you. Depending upon which method you like the best, you can easily make an attar of your choice at home.

Now, without any more delay, let us get right into what these methods are.

Method 1

Things you will need to make attar at home-

• A large glass jar
• Around 200ml of pure sandalwood oil
• Around half a kg of fresh rose petals or jasmine petals or any other flower petals of your choice (Instead of petals you can also use about a gram of saffron strands for making saffron attar at home)
• A hand masher or a large spoon
• A plastic pipette or a sieve
• A roll on glass bottle for storing the attar

The Method:

• Pour all of the sandalwood oil in the jar and then add all of the rose (or other) petals to it. Then, close the jar tightly with its lid. 
• Now, you need to place this jar in a dark and dry place for about 2 weeks. You can keep the jar in your kitchen cabinets or such similar place.
• After two weeks, open the lid of the jar and use either a hand masher or a large spoon to mash the petals of the flower. This will enable the petals to release even more fragrance. Secure the jar tightly with its lid again and let it sit in the same place for another week.
• During this time of one week, you need to mash the petals every alternate day or so.
• After a week, you can use a plastic pipette or a sieve and add your obtained floral attar to a glass bottle.
• Your floral attar is ready and you can either start using it directly or wait for about 24 hours before the first use.
• Store your homemade attar in a dry and dark place and use it to dab your inner wrists/ throat or other pulse points.

This was our first method for how to make attar at home. It is a very easy-to-follow method that requires minimum ingredients. You can use this method for making any floral attar of your choice or you can also make a great Kesar or saffron attar with it.

Method 2

Things you will need for making attar at home-

• 2 ml of benzyl benzoate
• 1 ml of an essential oil of your choice (for example- khus, henna, jasmine, rose etc.)
• A container for mixing
• A roll on glass bottle for storing the attar

The Method:

• Take your mixing container and add about 2 ml of benzyl benzoate to it. Then, add 1 ml of the essential oil of your choice to it.
• Mix the essential oil and benzyl benzoate very well in the container.
• Then, add this mixture to your empty glass attar bottle.
• Voila, your attar is ready! However, you need to wait for about 24 to 48 hours before you can start using this attar.
• After a day or two, your homemade attar is all ready to be used and you need to store it in a cool and dry place. This method will give you about 3 ml of attar.

This is another very easy and cheap method for how to make attar at home that uses benzyl benzoate and an essential oil. The ingredients are very easily available and the process is very simple too. Moreover, you can easily experiment and make an attar that you love!

This method is very convenient as you can make use of literally any essential oil that you like and use it to make a great attar fragrance.

Method 3

Things you will need to make attar at home-

• About 1/4th cup of a carrier oil (coconut, almond, apricot kernel or any other)
• 15 to 20 drops of any essential oil of your choice
• 5 to 7 drops of glycerin
• 3 tbsp of clean water
• A roll on or other bottle for storing the attar

The Method:

• Take the carrier oil and add it to a mixing jar. Then, add about 15 drops of the essential oil of your choice to it and then mix well. You can add more or less depending upon how strong you want its smell to be.
• Now, close the lid of the jar tightly and store it in a cool and dry place. You need to keep this mixture just like this for a good 48 hours. 
• After 48 hours, add about 5 drops of glycerin and 3 spoonfuls of water to it and mix everything really well.
• Well, your attar is now ready. You can now store it in a roll on or any other glass bottle of your choice. 
• You can either use this attar immediately or wait for about 24 hours before you start using it. 

This was our third simple method of making attar at home. This method, again, uses very simple, cheap as well as easily available ingredients. 

Conclusion

In this article, we told you about what is attar and also shared three easy methods for how to make attar at home. 

While you can always buy pure and natural attar online or from a store, making it on your own is also very fun and you get to experiment and learn something new. 

We would love for you to use these methods to make your own attar at home. Do try these methods out and also let us know which one of these did you find the best?

If you wish to buy an Attar, you can check our products out. We have the finest attars ranging from Oudh, Bukhoor, Musky and Floral. Hold on, you must check our cosmetics and essential oils too.

You may also read:

• 8 Best Oud Colognes for Men
• Top 16 Perfumes for Girls {All Natural}
• 10 Unknown Essential Oils Facts & Myths

Mir Saeid

Mir Saeid is the Growth Hacker of Kashmirica, a brand that is poised to ‘Bring Exclusives from Kashmir to You’. An enthusiastic cultural entrepreneur, he is driven by a passion to bring about a social impact. He has a Masters in International Business from the University of Bedfordshire and has worked in leading Marketing positions at various SMEs and Startups for 8+ years.

Intrigued by the crafts of his birthplace,  he decided to bring the art on the Global Connoisseur through the internet. A polyglot who speaks English, Arabic, Urdu & Koshur, Mir loves traveling, reading, writing, and spending time on the cricket field – a passion rekindled just recently.