Creator of home fragrances Kristen Terasmaa: cheap air freshener is a hidden chemical cocktail

Kristen Terasmaa, founder of the Estonian home fragrance brand Ruth Terras, warns that air fresheners priced at just a few euros can contain chemical compounds harmful to health. Terasmaa operates in Tallinn's Kassisaba district, where she has combined her home, office, and warehouse into a single wooden building.

On the ground floor of a wooden house in Tallinn's Kassisaba district lies something unusual: a home, office, and warehouse merged into one space, all dedicated to fragrances. This is where Kristen Terasmaa runs the Estonian homegrown brand Ruth Terras on a daily basis.

Upon entering the hallway, visitors are greeted by low shelves filled with boxes, jars, and finished products. This is the place where fragrances are born, designed to enrich our homes, but according to Terasmaa, it is worth examining carefully what exactly you are buying beforehand.

Cheap price, expensive cost to health?

"With a few-euro home fragrance, you can unknowingly inhale a pure chemical cocktail," says Terasmaa directly. According to her, many affordable air fresheners on the market hide synthetic substances in their composition, whose long-term effects on human health are questionable.

Terasmaa emphasises that consumers often pay significantly less attention to home fragrances than to, for example, food or cosmetics, even though air fresheners are inhaled continuously and come into contact with your home's air for hours at a time.

Ruth Terras, a homegrown alternative

For Terasmaa, the Ruth Terras brand is more than just business—it is a mission to offer more transparent and consciously formulated alternatives to mass production. She considers the heart of the brand to be this modest Kassisaba house, where every product begins its journey.

According to Terasmaa, the advantage of domestic production is also that you can monitor ingredients more precisely and respond to customer feedback much faster than large companies can.