Lavender Essential Oil, A Wonder For The Skin And For The Home

Lavender essential oil contains too many beneficial properties not to benefit from it. It is excellent for the health, for the skin and even for the home. Do you want to know all its uses?

Discover in this article all the properties of lavender essential oil, as well as the different ways to use it.

Lavender

When we think of lavender, the image of the purple fields of France comes to mind. This wild plant, characterized by its small purple flower, is common in the Mediterranean basin and in parts of Africa, Asia and India. Lavender grows in fields and dry hills, in very sunny areas.

Lavender is rich in essential oils, acids, coumarins, tannins and saponins in the case of flowers.

Health properties

Lavender has the following medicinal properties:

• Its main characteristic is its great soothing power, which has been known since antiquity. In Roman culture, lavender was used for relaxing baths. It is useful in case of nervousness, anxiety, insomnia, stress, etc.
• It also has antiseptic properties that help disinfect, soothe and heal wounds, burns, bites and bruises.
• Lavender is antibacterial and antiviral. Two properties that make it an excellent remedy for the prevention and treatment of respiratory diseases such as laryngitis, pharyngitis and tonsillitis, as well as genital infections.
• It also improves certain skin conditions, such as psoriasis or eczema, by reducing inflammation and calming itching.
• It promotes good digestion and calms the nerves that affect the stomach.
• Its anti-inflammatory and soothing properties make lavender a good pain reliever.
• It helps fight against motion sickness.
• In addition, it slightly reduces high blood pressure.
• Finally, it prevents hair loss.

Oils and other extracts

the essential oil concentrates all the properties and aromas of lavender in very small quantities. This oil is obtained by a still distillation process, not possible at home. However, we can find it at herbalists and other health food stores.

What are the alternatives to do at home?

• Maceration of lavender oil on the basis of almond or olive oil: the ratio is 1 plant to 10 oil. Macerate in a glass jar and expose to the sun in an outside place. Finally, shake the mixture from time to time.
• Maceration in alcohol for a week: fill the glass bottle with dried flowers and add ethyl alcohol.
• Concentrated infusion of dried flowers: the simplest and most common use is to prepare a concentrated infusion with the flowers of the plant. It is however preferable to consume it in gargles, baths of the body or of the feet.

Health uses

The most common health uses are:

• Infusions to fight insomnia and nervousness

• Gargles to reduce serious respiratory tract inflammation
• Relaxing massages with lavender oil to also combat stress.
• Rubbing with lavender alcohol to relieve pain from rheumatism, lumbar, foot, migraine and stiff neck

Uses for skin and hair

One of the best ways to apply lavender to your skin and hair is to add a few drops of its essential oil to our cosmetics:

• Face and body cream: it soothes tension, fights skin conditions and improves regeneration.
• Shampoo: prevents hair loss.

This oil also has the virtue of improving the effects of other natural components.

Home uses

At home, we can impregnate our cleaning products (scrubbers, detergents, softeners, deodorants, etc.) to have a delicious aroma and achieve the following goals.

• Hunt insects
• Promote relaxation in the family environment.
• Eliminate fleas from dogs and cats.

In addition, we can make bags with lavender flowers in a very simple way with which we can perfume the wardrobes.

Some larger fabric bags are also handcrafted, such as a cervical pillow that can be heated in the microwave and placed over the cervical region to promote good rest.