(Video link here.) When a grieving friend came for dinner, the conversation eventually turned from sadness to LOL hilarity. He told us that he had recently heard that an entrepeneur was making a fortune selling “poop spray”, a scented liquid that you spray in the toilet “before to go” to literally prevent your shit from stinking. You’re kidding, we said, thinking this had to be a joke on American anxiety about bodily processes.
I kid you not, he said, and what is even more amazing is the commercial. So we checked it out on YouTube, and laughed like crazy. We were happily surprised that the makers of Poo-Pourri Poop Spray managed to make their product both funny and compelling. The next day we did some research into just what was in their million dollar idea.

The bottle says “This Before-You-Go blend of Natural Essential Oils creates a barrier to embarrassing bathroom odor”. Like air fresheners, Poo-Pourri comes in an array of scents like Lavender and Vanilla, Grapefruit, Citrus and Pine, Rose…and many clearly synthetic aromas.
Although a poop spray is not something we feel compelled to have — we are amazed that someone even thought of it, and then went on to develop a saleable product — we decided to see if we could DIY it ourselves using the many essentilal oils we keep on hand. We discovered A LOT of people had the same idea; google “Poopourri ingredients” and you’ll find many concoctions and some saliant commentary.
Happy Money Saver‘s is our favorite:
After researching it further, I discovered all this poo fragrance spray for the bathroom is, is basically essential oil water all gussied up in some pretty brilliant packaging. Translation: perfect for an easy DIY’er project.
HMS’s cost comparison revealed that her homemade version cost .17 per ounces versus $5 for PooPourri. Here’s her formula with an compelling testimonial:
I’ve had family members try both products (original and homemade) in a double blind test and the results clearly indicate the DIY is just as effective as the original. In other words, we use them interchangeably and they both work great.

Formula for DIY Poop Spray
1 tsp rubbing alcohol
30-40 drops essential oil(s) of choice (This time I used Lemongrass and Peppermint)
WaterPour rubbing alcohol in a 3 oz spray container and add essential oils. The alcohol keeps the oils from separating from the water, so you don’t have to shake it before each use. You can use any combination of oils that you’d like. Add water to fill the container. Give it a good shake and you’re ready to go! I’ve found 3-4 sprays is enough to cover the bowl and trap all of the stink particles below.
Haha! Has anyone seen the hilarious movie ENVY with Ben Stiller and Jack Black? Jack Black’s character invents a product called VaPOOrizer that makes dog poo disappear. His best friend, Ben Stiller, poopoos the idea, and it goes on to make MILLIONS.
Any advertisement that includes the phrase “this *is* a real product” should probably be re-examined.
Ha! My sister bought a bottle of this a few years ago, and we got a good laugh out of the tagline 🙂 I’d actually been DIYing a version long before – we discovered that rather than spraying our essential oil mix in the air after #2s, spraying it in the toilet pre-poo seemed to help more. So we have some nice apple-pie scented oil next to the toilet. Which is great, except now whenever we smell apple pie, we think of poo…so choose scents wisely 🙂
I’m going to try this version – the alcohol is a smart idea to spread the oils, and peppermint + lemon seems a nice choice!
I didn’t catch that. FOR SURE!!!