Lavender Oil Benefits & Uses
Lavender essential oil is referred to as the ‘swiss army knife of essential oils’ – and for good reason! If you could only purchase one essential oil, lavender would be my recommendation. That’s because it’s so incredibly versatile. It is, by far, the most used essential oil in our home. Learn the many benefits & uses of lavender essential oil in this post.
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Essential Oils for Beginners
If you’re brand new to essential oils, you may wish to start with my Beginner’s Guide to Essential Oils. This will give you all the basics about what essential oils are, and the many ways you can incorporate them into your life.
What Is Lavender Essential Oil?
Latin Name: Lavandula angustifolia
Lavender essential oil is extracted from lavender plants, using steam distillation. It takes 35 pounds of lavender petals to make one 15 ml bottle of lavender oil.
This is why you pay more for high-quality essential oils.
If they are truly pure, they take a lot of plant material to make. If you’re buying lavender oil for $20 or less, you should question how they’re able to source that much lavender, distill it into an essential oil, bottle it, ship it, and pay the farmers a fair, living wage.
Lavender is known for its calming, soothing benefits on the mind and body.
History of Lavender Essential Oil
The benefits of lavender were discovered over 2500 years ago.
The Egyptians used lavender oil for mummification and perfume.
The Romans used lavender oil for bathing, cooking, and purifying the air.
In the Bible, lavender was among the aromatics used for anointing and healing.
Benefits of Lavender Essential Oil
- has a peaceful, calming aroma
- soothes minor skin irritations
- powerful antiseptic & healing agent
- antioxidant, reduces oxidative stress
- can help reduce blood pressure
- promotes a restful environment
- relieves pain from burns
- relieves itch from bug bites
- relieves pain from bee stings
- can help soothe head tension
- can help improve brain impairment and cognitive dysfunction
- reduces stress & anxious feelings by reducing cortisol levels
- can reduce muscle & joint pain when applied topically
How to Use Lavender Oil
There are many ways to use lavender essential oil. I’ve broken them down according to the 3 primary ways we use essential oils: aromatically, topically, and internally.
Aromatically (Inhalation)
Aromatic use of essential oils is the simplest way to begin. By simply inhaling these essential oils, you are impacting the limbic system in your brain, which is the area responsible for your mood & emotions.
Here are some ways you can use lavender oil aromatically:
- Inhale directly out of the bottle.
- Make a pillow spray with 20 drops lavender in a 4 oz spray bottle, top with distilled water or witch hazel. Spritz your pillow each night before bed time.
- Add a few drops of lavender oil to cotton balls, and place in drawers.
- Diffuse lavender in a cold mist diffuser (see diffuser recipes below).
- Add a few drops of lavender to your (scent-free) shampoo bottle, so you carry the scent with you after washing your hair.
Topically (Applied to Skin)
Lavender essential oil is considered a ‘neat’ oil, which means you can use it straight out of the bottle, without diluting it first. However, I always recommend dilution, as it makes your oils go further, and also reduces the risk of developing a sensitivity.
Since essential oils are volatile (evaporate quickly), applying them with a carrier oil helps with absorption.
To use a carrier oil, simply add a little coconut, olive, vegetable, or almond oil to the palm of your hand, followed by 1-2 drops of lavender oil. Then rub your hands together to mix the oils, and apply to your skin.
Alternately, you could use a roller bottle. To an empty essential oil roller bottle, add 15-20 drops of lavender oil, then top it off with fractionated (liquid) coconut oil. Then it is pre-diluted and ready to apply to your skin any time.
Here are some ways to use lavender oil topically:
- Mix a few drops lavender oil with a jar of epsom salts. Shake well, and apply to bath water.
- Make a roller bottle (15-20 drops of lavender oil, top with fractionated coconut oil). Roll on the bottoms of your feet at bedtime to help with relaxation & sleep.
- Add to bottoms of feet before bedtime.
- Massage into sore muscles or joints.
- Apply to pulse points to help ease stress and/or anxious feelings.
Internally (Ingested)
Very few essential oil brands are safe to use internally – please check your bottle to see if it lists internal use. (dōTERRA lavender oil is safe to use internally).
Here are some ways you can use dōTERRA lavender oil internally:
- Add a few drops to baked goods or homemade beverages for a fun twist.
- Apply a drop under your tongue to help promote restful sleep, or to reduce stress and anxiety during the day.
- Add one drop to your drinking water (glass or stainless only), and drink before bed to help with sleep.
Essential Oils that Blend Well with Lavender
For the purpose of creating your own essential oil blends, lavender is considered a ‘middle note’. Generally, middle notes will blend well with top notes (such as citrus and mint oils) and base notes (such as woody oils).
Here are some examples of essential oils that blend well with lavender:
- bergamot
- wild orange
- frankincense
- peppermint
- lemongrass
- lime
- eucalyptus
- cypress
- jasmine
- cedarwood
- rosemary
When I make my homemade soap, one of my favorite blends to use is lavender, cedarwood, and rosemary.
Lavender Oil Diffuser Blends
Using a cold mist diffuser is one of the simplest ways to experience the benefits of lavender essential oil. Not only will you benefit from the calming effects of lavender oil, but everyone in your household will as well!
Here are some diffuser blends for you to try, using lavender essential oil.
Simply add the specified number of drops of each essential oil to your cold mist diffuser. Then top with tap water to the fill line, replace the lid, and turn on.
For more diffuser blend ideas, I love diffuserblends.com. You can use my link to get a 7-day free trial!
Presence of Mind Diffuser Blend
- 4 drops copaiba
- 3 drops frankincense
- 2 drops lavender
- 2 drops helichrysum
Where to Buy Lavender Essential Oil (AKA – Why Quality Matters)
I only use and recommend dōTERRA essential oils. I trust their purity, potency, and sourcing more than any other brand. I’ve been exclusively using dōTERRA essential oils since 2014!
dōTERRA essential oils are Certified Pure Tested Grade (CPTG). The essential oils have been thoroughly tested by both dōTERRA, and third party laboratories, to show there are no contaminants or adulteration present.
Every bottle of dōTERRA essential oils has a lot number on the bottom, so you can access the test results of each batch for yourself.
Over 90% of all essential oil brands on the market are adulterated. If you’re going to go to the trouble of using essential oils to create a safe, natural home, I’d recommend only using high quality essential oils.
The potency and constituents of each essential oil, are highly dependent on their growing conditions. For this reason, dōTERRA sources their lavender oil from Bulgaria, which has the best growing conditions for lavender.
The health of the plant is directly related to the effectiveness of the essential oil.
If you’ve tried lower quality brands in the past, and decided they ‘didn’t work’, you were probably right!
When you use a high quality essential oil, there is an unmistakable difference.
Here is a great video showing how dōTERRA sources their lavender essential oil.
Lavender Essential Oil Safety & Contraindications
When you are using a high quality essential oil like dōTERRA, lavender is one of the safest essential oils to use.
(This same safety cannot be applied to cheap, store-brand essential oils, as we have no idea what fillers or contaminants may be present).
Children & Pets: Lavender oil is safe to use on children and pets. However, you want to keep the bottles out of reach of children and pets, simply because essential oils are very concentrated, and only small amounts should be used at one time. Store your essential oils in the same way you would store medication in your home, because they are equally as potent.
Neat Application: Although lavender oil is considered a ‘neat’ essential oil (meaning it is safe to use without dilution), I recommend diluting all essential oils when applying topically, simply to reduce the likelihood of developing a sensitivity to that essential oil over time.
Sedative: Since lavender has sedative properties, you may wish to avoid using lavender if going under anaesthesia, or using other sedatives, as it may slow down your central nervous system too much.
Get Support With Your Essential Oils
Are you interested in learning more about essential oils, but you wish you had some guidance on your journey?
When you order essential oils through me (using any of the links in this post), you’ll get:
- 25% off all your dōTERRA essential oils & products for 1 year (with the opportunity to renew at the end of the year)
- access to my private Facebook community, where we offer continuing education, and a place for you to ask essential oil-related questions to members of our community.
- Access to my comprehensive essential oils training email series – which teaches you everything you need to know about using your essential oils safely and effectively.
Here are some options for purchasing lavender essential oil.
Lavender Essential Oil 15 ml
15 ml bottle of pure lavender essential oil (approximately 250 drops). Thisi bottle will last you a very, very long time. When applying topically, you will typically only use one drop.
When diffusing, you will use anywhere from 1-5 drops, depending on whether you are adding other essential oils or not.
I'd recommend adding some fractionated coconut oil, a pump, and empty roller bottles to your order, so you can get the most use out of your lavender oil.
Lavender Touch 10 ml
Lavender Touch is a 10 ml roll-on, which has been pre-diluted with fractionated coconut oil. It is safe and ready to use for topical application. It's extremely convenient; I keep a bottle in my purse and in my vehicle at all times.
The only down side of the Touch version, is you can't use it in your diffuser as it's blended with coconut oil, which will gum up your diffuser.
You can also make your own lavender roller bottle by purchasing the regular 15 ml bottle, some empty roller bottles, and Fractionated coconut oil.
Serenity Restful Blend (15 ml)
Serenity Restful blend is a blend of essential oils, including lavender, that helps with sleep & relaxation.
If you can only afford to purchase one bottle of essential oil, but you want the benefits of several different oils, then Serenity is a great choice.
This is typically what my husband and I diffuse at bed time.
Healthy Start Enrollment Kit
The best way to get started with essential oils, is with a starter kit.
The Healthy Start Kit contains 5 ml bottles of each of the Top 10 essential oils, plus a diffuser - to help you get all the aromatherapy benefits of your essential oils.
The 5 ml bottles cannot be purchased individually, so purchasing this kit allows you to try multiple oils at a lower cost. Lavender oil is included in this kit.
I'd recommend adding some fractionated coconut oil, a pump, and empty roller bottles to your order, so you can get the most use out of these oils.
Introductory Kit | doTERRA Essential Oils
Not ready for a full starter kit? Start with the basics, with this introductory trio of lavender, lemon, and peppermint essential oils.
Similar to the Healthy Start Kit, these are 5 ml bottles, so you're getting 3 different oils to try, for less than the cost of a full-sized bottle of lavender oil.
This trio is also what we use as a natural antihistamine. Combining lemon, lavender & peppermint together can help reduce allergy symptoms.
Plus, it comes in a cute little box. 🙂
I'd recommend adding some fractionated coconut oil, a pump, and empty roller bottles to your order, so you can get the most use out of these oils.
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