Essential Oil Of Lavender Uses

The list of Lavender uses is long. I use lavender essential oil in the home nearly every day of the week for something or other. All sorts of minor ills and accidents are easily and naturally treated using lavender oil, and my home made household products work and smell all the better for including it in the recipe.

This is a home remedy plant that has been known for hundreds, and maybe thousands of years: so versatile because it treats burns, stings, wounds, stress, headaches and insomnia extremely effectively, as well as being a great antiseptic.

Science has finally caught up with traditional wisdom by studying essential oil of lavender uses. These studies show the remarkable qualities of Lavender from a scientific perspective, and for those who are interested, there is a technical information section at the end of this page.

Lavender oil is one of the most useful products that I have in my home. If you don't already use it, maybe try it out for yourself and see. If you do, just be sure to dilute it down before putting it on your skin, and don't rub your eyes with hands that have the oil on them as essential oils are strong. If you want to read more about the safe use of essential oils there is a section and link at the end of this page dedicated to just that.

Image by Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen (List of Koehler Images) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Lavender oil is easy to use for all sorts of healing purposes.

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Lavender Flowers Grown For Lavender Oil Production

By Riley Huntley (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

Lavender must be one of the most easily recognised scents in the world. Its fragrance conjures up gardens, warm hillsides, summer sun and the hum of bees to me.

Lavender oil is the oil that is extracted from the flowers of certain types of lavender flowers by steam distillation. The leaves and stalks are not used.

This oil smells very strongly of lavender and contains the chemicals contained in lavender flowers in a very concentrated form. The water that is left after distilling the flowers also smells of lavender and contains chemicals from the plant as well. It is commonly know as Lavender Water but within the cosmetic trade it is called a hydrosol.

By Rillke (Own work) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Essential oil of Lavender has been extracted by distillation since the 13th century as a means of preserving its fragrance, but it was an accident in a laboratory, early in the 20th century, that revealed its incredible healing powers.

When chemist Rene Maurice Gatefosse suffered third degree burns to his hand and plunged it into a vat of essential oil of lavender, he was amazed to find that his burns healed quickly with little scarring. His subsequent research into the healing powers of plants led French army surgeon, Dr. Jean Valnet to treat severe burns and battle injuries with lavender oil with great success. He then went on to treat psychiatric and war trauma patients with essential oils, and so aromatherapy was born.

During the Second World War conventional sterile dressings, antiseptics and antibiotics often ran out in hospitals and field stations, and one of the alternatives that doctors turned to was Lavender oil. In fact the failing fortunes of the Norfolk Lavender Company were resurrected by the large orders of essential oil of Lavender placed by the British government.

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• Burns

  Best practice first aid treatment recommends that serious burns need medical attention as well as submersion in cold water as a basic first action. But for minor burns in the home, after a ten minute immersion in cold water, the following treatment brings amazing relief from stinging, and in my experience reduces blistering and speeds up healing remarkably.

  Having cooled the burn in cold water for 5-10 minutes, put neat Lavender oil on the burn, or wrap a sterile cloth impregnated with the oil and apply to the area.

• Headaches

  Maybe Lavender helps to ease headaches by promoting relaxation. However it works, I always find the smell of Lavender cuts through a tiresome headache, and calms the nausea that often accompanies it.

  I usually rub a few drops on my forehead or inhale the drops from a hanky. Even if it doesn't cure it completely, I find that my head feels clearer and soothed, without the dull feeling that you get from pain killers.

Steve Daniels [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

• Get a friend to massage you and add a few drops of essential oil of Lavender to the massage oil.

• Light an aromatherapy burner in your room, add a couple of drops of oil to the water, and leave it to work its magic.

• Run a warm bath, light candles and add a few drops of oil to the water. Dim the lights, lie back and breathe in gently.

• Dab a few drops on your wrist.

• Put drops on your handkerchief or scarf and wrap it around your neck, or place it inside your pillowslip.

• Take a small pinch of dried Lavender flowers, rub your hands together and breathe in deeply.

• Fill a small bag with the dried flowers and keep it on your pillow.

• Lie in a Lavender field and be transported.

• And finally, a tea with added rosebuds and lavender flowers will put you in touch with yourself and the angels.

Image courtesy of wikimedia commons

On those occasions when I am kept awake by ideas that keep going round and round in my mind, I find that the best sleep remedy is a hot drink that contains some lavender flowers. I use my own lavender flowers, and add them to many different tea blends, depending on my mood, even to an ordinary cup of milky tea.

How to use Lavender Oil as an antiseptic

By Booksworm (Own work) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

If you want to deter the less appealing bugs...splash or spray diluted lavender around. Blood feeders like fleas and midges seem to hate Lavender and generally prefer to go off and be a nuisance elsewhere when they smell or taste it.

I camped by Conniston Water whilst canoeing in August, a perfect time for midges, and used loads of lavender oil to keep myself bite free. Not only did it keep the mosquitoes away, it seemed to repel all the crawly things that usually insist on sharing your sleeping bag...the tent smelt heavenly too.

• Make a carpet spray to deter cat fleas with water plus a few drops of lavender oil.

• Grow lavender in your window boxes to deter flies.

• Rub lavender oil on your ankles, wrists, forehead and hair to keep the mosquitoes at bay.

Christine Matthews [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Photo by ms_bulsara

Photo by karen roe

Once you have understood some basic quantity ratios, and know the standard ways in which essential oils are measured, using essential oils becomes easier.

Click through here for quantities and measurements when using essential oils

This is information about the number of drops per bottle and drops to millilitre, and how much to dilute blends for use on the skin. I've arranged it in as simple a way as possible, so that you can just get on with the recipes, and get the quantities right first time.

Essential oils are highly concentrated extracts from plants, and contain powerful chemical compounds. You need to treat them with respect and use them with care and caution.

Click through here for How To Use Essential Oils Safely

You are strongly advised to aquaint yourself with the various limitations and side effects of certain oils, as well as have a basic understanding of safe practice when using essential oils..

Lavender helps heal the body and soothe the mind; it also helps the hard pressed bee. By using Lavender in our home, I've found that we heal can ourselves naturally and at the same time support the Lavender farms and the nectar rich fields loved by the bees.

"Flowers leave some of their fragrance in the hand that bestows them."

Chinese Proverb