Hardly an essential oil that needs an introduction, Lavender essential oil has been used throughout history for dozens of different applications. If you’ve gotten yourself a bottle of this goodness but aren’t quite sure what to do with it or what it is used for – sit tight!
Lavender is incredibly versatile and useful for everyday occurrences and we’re going to let you in on our top ten favorite ways to use it!
1. Lavender supports mental well being
Troubling thoughts and feelings can plague us all one time or another, and Lavender is a wonderful choice when we need to calm our mind down. It is known to have an immediate calming effect when inhaled or applied topically [1]; dilute to 2-5% with your favorite carrier oil and massage onto your feet, temples, wrists, or hands to help settle a nervous or overactive mind that is causing you distress.
Negative feelings that stem from anxiety or depression can take a serious toll on your day to day well being, so let Lavender help support your mental health.
2. Lavender can also help improve sleep quality
In need of some quality sleep? Lavender has a well-known reputation to promote a good night of sleep. Its relaxing properties are perfect for helping to reduce feelings of stress after a long day and help you drift into dreamland [1].
Diffusing Lavender in your bedroom for about 30 minutes is a great way to incorporate Lavender into your nighttime routine. Or, simply add a few drops to a cotton ball and place near your pillow. Either way, arming your bedside table with Lavender is a great idea for a good night’s sleep!
3. It is a natural air freshener
Is your house not smelling as fresh as you want it to be? Lavender is a fantastic way to freshen up even the stinkiest of places. Diffuse to help obliterate the stink of a stale room, or add a few drops to a cotton ball and place where stinky smells may linger.
Think – a musty closet, under the kitchen sink, a gym bag – you name it! Lavender’s air purifying properties also make this a great choice if you have a case of the “ickies” going around the house and want to freshen up the air.
4. It can even help alleviate pain
Close your eyes, take a breath, and think: is something causing you pain right now? If you have a human body, then your answer is likely a resounding “yes!” Whether it’s a scrape that stings, sore muscles or joints that have been overworked, a fresh bruise, or an unsightly zit trying to make its home on your sensitive skin, chances are there is something causing you discomfort.
While we can’t all live pain-free all the time, we can use Lavender to help lessen our perception of the pain and, as a result, feel more comfortable. Lavender’s pain-relieving properties have been widely studied [2], and results from these studies tell us that topically applying Lavender is an amazing way to soothe the pain – just don’t forget to dilute to 2-5%!
5. It’s great for headache relief
Headaches are a great way to ruin, well, everything. No matter what you’re up to, a throbbing head makes every task a little more unpleasant. Thankfully, with its calming and sedative effects, Lavender can provide wonderful relief if you are experiencing head and neck tension.
It is also known to reduce stress and helps relieve feelings of restlessness, which are often contributors to a headache. One placebo-controlled clinical trial found that a majority of participants responded positively to inhaling Lavender when in the midst of a headache, and it was also found to help soothe and lessen the more severe migraine headache symptoms [3].
6. Lavender can help soothe minor burns
Burns are a bummer; whether you accidently touched that hot pan on the stove, stayed out in the sun a little too long, or got a little overzealous with your crafting and didn’t handle that hot glue gun carefully enough, burns happen.
To decrease the pain, swelling, redness, and other minor burn symptoms, Lavender is the perfect oil to reach for. Its cooling relief will be immediate and will help support the healing process. Dilute it, or reach for your Lavender Organic Hydrosol, and apply topically to the burn for relief.
7. It helps stop the itch
Got a bug bite driving you nuts? Calm your itchy skin! Lavender’s many healing properties make it perfect to help reduce the pain, swelling, and redness associated with bug bites and other itchy skin issues.
With poison ivy season either right around the corner or in full swing (depending where you live), it’s never too early to prepare for the worst! Keep this oil in your home first aid kit so it’s always ready to use when that irritating itch comes up.
8. Lavender can help give you some allergy relief
Don’t let allergies get you down – Lavender is known to reduce inflammation, strengthen your body against allergens, and reduce painful symptoms from allergies, like swelling or pressure. Lavender contains linalool, which can have anti-inflammatory actions that may help relieve tissue congestion [4].
Unpleasant season allergy symptoms can attack your immune system at any time. Thankfully, using Lavender alone or in a blend is a great way to support your body’s immune system.
9. It’s even great for hair health
Healthy hair isn’t easy for a lot of us to maintain. Using Lavender Essential Oil may not be the miracle hair growth serum you’re dreaming about, but it sure does have properties that promote healthy hair – plus it smells fantastic! For healthy hair, a healthy scalp is necessary; diluting this oil to 1% in your favorite carrier oil and massaging it onto your scalp can increase circulation, allowing your body to deliver more of all those wonderful vitamins and nutrients that fuel healthy hair growth [5].
If your scalp is itchy or irritated from minor scratches or acne, use Lavender to help support your scalp’s healing process. A healthy scalp helps grow and support strong hair follicles, helping you achieve that luscious, healthy hair you’ve been craving!
10. Last but not least…Lavender helps promote healthy skin
Lavender is such a soothing and gentle essential oil, it’s no wonder that it’s a skincare favorite. It is an especially good option for skin allergies as it can calm irritation, with research indicating that it can speed up the healing process. Additionally, a study conducted by the Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC, found that this oil was one of the few potent essential oils that can inhibit the growth of skin bacteria [6].
Basically, keep Lavender in your arsenal of skin care products. For an amazing Lavender Body Scrub, simply add 1 cup of white sugar, 1/2 cup of Fractionated Coconut Oil, 4 tbsp of Grapeseed Oil, and 10 drops of Lavender Essential Oil. Stir it up and apply to damp skin using circular motions, then wash off with warm water and follow with a moisturizer.
Sources
[1] Koulivand, P. H., Khaleghi Ghadiri, M., & Gorji, A. (2013). Lavender and the Nervous System. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine : eCAM, 2013, 681304. http://doi.org/10.1155/2013/681304
[2] Silva, GL., Luft, C., Lunardelli, A., Amaral, RH., Melo, DA., Donadio, MV., Nunes FB., De Azambuja, MS., Santana, JC., Moraes, CM., Mello, RO., Cassel, E., Pereira, MA., De Oliveira, JR. (2015). Antioxidant, analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of lavender essential oil. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências, 87(2, Suppl. ), 1397-1408. Epub August 04, 2015.https://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765201520150056
[3] Sasannejad, P., Saeedi, M., Shoeibi, A., Gorji, A., Abbasi, M., Foroughipour, M., Lavender Essential Oil in the Treatment of Migraine Headache: A Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial. Eur Neurol 2012;67:288-291
[4] Emnett, A. (2017). Aromatherapy for Seasonal Allergies in Children. Retrieved from https://naha.org/naha-blog/aromatherapy-for-seasonal-allergies-in-children
[5] Lee, B. H., Lee, J. S., & Kim, Y. C. (2016). Hair Growth-Promoting Effects of Lavender Oil in C57BL/6 Mice. Toxicological Research, 32(2), 103–108. http://doi.org/10.5487/TR.2016.32.2.103
[6] Hajhashemi V., Ghannadi A., Sharif B. (2003). Anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of the leaf extracts and essential oil of Lavandula angustifolia Mill. J. Ethnopharmacol. 89, 67–71. 10.1016/S0378-8741(03)00234-4 [PubMed]
Using Lavender Essential Oil in diffuser is a perfect way to help keep all the bad odour away.
Yes My very first experience of E.O was lavender and the old faithful still takes place by my head.
I used one of the tips in this blog to help me with my sleep. I put a few drops of PT’s Lavender Oil on a cotton ball and put it in my pillow case. I got the most restful sleep in weeks. I was so hesitant to try this at first, because I had a lavender eye pillow years ago and I swear it was giving me anxiety, but since I was having so much anxiety anyways lately and wasn’t sleeping no more than 3-4 hours, I figured I would give this a try. This was the first time in months that I slept 8 hours through the night, without having a panic attack nor nightmares. Thank you so much for this blog and the tips. I love Plant Therapy!
I use lavender for many things. I love it in my hair, for helping reduce temperature in a kid who won’t take meds and I love how it makes our home calm. We travel with this oil as well. LOVE IT!
I need to get some Lavender. I am just starting out and only have a few blends. Lavender is one of the next oils on my list to get.
I really like the way the writer included studies & the sources. Lavender is great for so many things!
I love PT’s blog. I am always learning new things and the DIYs are the BEST!!
Lavender is my absolute favorite oil. So versatile and smells amazing!
I was so afraid to use lavender for the first time because I always thought I was allergic. Lavender has always been one of my favorite flora scents but I always avoided anything in it or I would brake out in huge horrible patches of eczema. I tried the essential oil expecting the same amd nothing. In fact it HELPED!! lavender from some other brand was the first essential oil I used and I haven’t looked back since. Finally I can smell pretty without my skin trying to fall off!!
our basement smells so bad! definitely going to try the cotton ball tip and diffuse near the basement. thanks for the great tips!
the lavender body scrub sounds amazing! I’ve got to try it in my before bed shower.
Lavender is one of my favorites n I love using it on the dryer balls for the wash. The scent lasts forever.
I love the blogs to learn more about the different oils. I wish I had know about lavender when I had bug bites last year. I will be keeping lavender around all the time.
Lavender is by far the most commonly used oil in our home. My husband loves it at night with a little peppermint, copaiba or Veviter.
Lavender is one of my favorite oils. I mostly use it for relaxing and sleep. I didn’t realize just how versatile it is.
Lavender is one of my favorite oils. What a great article, so many uses for this wonderful oil
It’s essential to have it at home. One os the “Must have” collectin.
Great article! I didn’t know lavender has so many healing properties. My wife and I love the smell of lavender. I find that i breathe better and it calms me when in stressful situations such as when i am on the road driving. We use a mini oil diffuser in our car, I can’t have a great commute to work without it. I bought my car oil diffuser from traveldiffuser.com Besides keeping my car smelling heavenly, It helps with my sinuses as well.
That’s great! Thank you so much for sharing, Daniel 🙂
I’m so grateful for Plant Therapy’s blog, which is a constant source of information and suggestions on how to get the most out of our oils. I didn’t know many of these uses for Lavender, so I’ve basically just been diffusing it with one or two other oils to aid with sleeping. I’ll definitely be seeing if it will also help me with my tension headaches!
Great Blog post! I can vouch for many of these methods. I have used Lavender to help with insomnia, major migraines, severe headaches, and even as a calming agent when feeling stressed out. It really does have a calming effect.
This is the first time I have heard it being good for scalp and in turn for hair. Great idea and will be doing this tonight. Thanks!!
Lavender is my favorite oil and PT has the best smelling lavender I have found . I diffuse it to help me sleep.
I use oil in my hair, I never new lavender could help! I can add it to the oil in using and get the benifits and smell factor!!
Lavender is one of my favorite oils and I’ve now learned a couple new ways to use it. I also have and love lavender hydrosol which is also great for my dogs. My grandkids like it too!
I love the smell of Lavender.
I’m trying lavender now. Using it in my cpap attachment, in diffuser, and in a spray for itching for my dog. The spray so far seems to help my dogs itching. It helps me sleep, and I’m mixing it with other oils for diffusing to help with allergies and immune system.
I never knew about it helping with minor burns and bug bites! It;s the coconut oil of essential oils!
I am currently covered in bug bites. I’m not sure from what kind of bugs. They are just appearing on me! This happened to me about a year ago and I’ll admit, I called a pest control guy. I thought maybe we had gotten bed bugs somehow because I would wake up with new bites. But it turned out that there was a crack in the foundation of our house, or at least at the very bottom right at the ground, and there was an ant hill right there. And it was located right at the wall my bed is against, so ants were coming in and feasting on me while I slept. Maybe that is happening again… ugh! I’m going to look up the dilution for lavender and mix it with jojoba oil (it’s the only carrier oil I have so I hope it’s ok). I ordered the itch away roller ball from PT’s amazon store (I want it faster than I can get it from your actual website lol) and it’s supposed to arrive today, but for now I’ll mix up some lavender!
Oh no! Bug bites are never fun :/ mixing jojoba and Lavender is a great choice before you get that Itch Away roller bottle 🙂
So many ideas that I need to try! Not a fan of the scent of lavender, but I can see a lot of benefits from using it.
I am not particularily keen with the aroma of lavender,I most use it for itchy,burns,bruises.
Lavender is my favorite oil and I am always looking for new ways to use it. There were several here that I never knew about. I am especially interested in the hair care idea. Pinned to my Pinterest board!
Isn’t it fun learning new ways to use one of your favorite oils? We’re excited for you to give the hair care idea a try!
I love my Lavender oil. I use it on my wool dryer balls and my clothes just have enough scent on them to make me go ahhhhh. I just purchased a larger bottle during CAM and am so glad I did.
This is my #1 oil. I love the smell but the endless uses of it still amazes me. I really struggle not to include it in everything and save it for it’s best uses. I have various types and am learning the differences in chemistry and scent. I will have to say I burned myself badly when hot oil spilled on my arm. I applied lavender the pain was all but gone immediately there were no blisters and the redness was almost gone by the next day. I missed a spot further up my arm and it was blistered and red and hurt so much the next day. So that showed me just how incrediblely this works!
Isn’t Lavender such an incredible Oil? Always learning new ways to use it. Happy to hear it helped with your burn. The power of Lavender 😀
Love this oil but I have been diffusing it for most of the time. Thanks for providing the information on how the lavender can be used in various ways. Would defintitey try some of them!
Thanks a lot. I learnt a lot more about lavender here other than for it being soothing and calming for sleeping. I learnt more here than I would have in school.
I didnt know that Lavender is good for so many things. I will need to purchase another bottle soon. Thank you so much for sharing all that. I want to try it next time I have allergies.
Just ordered a lavender roll on. Can’t wait to get and start using.
Lavender is our go to for almost everything. So many great uses!
I love that lavender has many uses. It is my favorite oil. And I love the smell! I tried the Lavender Fine and I loved it even more.
I use lavender every single night in my diffuser. I also rub on my hands and smooth on my pillowcase. I use it for headaches too. Can’t remember the last time I took Advil! Great oil!!!!
Lavender for president! I love lavender for linen refreshment and diffusing for calmness. My toddler uses a diluted roller of lavender for everything! Bad mood? Feeling sad? Tiny ouchy? Time for bed? Roll some lav on it.
I love lavender, it is the first EO I ever tried. I use it in a fabric spray on our linens and also in a roll on (mixed with vanilla) for sleep.
Thanks for the tips on more ways to use my lavender. Lavender oil was actually brought me to this company! I had made a couple spotty anazon purchases but when I stumbled across PT and all the reviews I was drawn in. Thanks for this “gateway”oil! I’m so in love with all things pt now!!
Used lavender and jasmine in warm water for compresses (in a crock pot) during my daughters labor! They both worked wonders for the contractions. She would start yelling new compress, so they must have helped 🙂 The room smelled divine. Lavender is amazing in all of it’s uses!
I love Lavender and put it in an anti-itch combination that I just made. It really works!
I LOVE lavender I use it along with Juniper Berry in my daughtera diffuser at night. And she sleeps so well.
This blog post was awesome, I am always looking for new ways to use Lavender. It is one of my top 3 oils!
Lavender is my favorite!! Thank you for the body scrub recipe, definitely going to try that!
I need to make an inhaler with lavender for my allergies – they’re kicking my butt right now!
I have to say that I do believe Lavender is my all time favorite essential oil. It makes me happy just to sniff the bottle periodically. I have used it in all these ways accept for hair health. That will be my next thing to try. This is one oil that I try and make sure that I never run out of.
Love the smell of Lavender, It helps me relax super good after a long day of work, but if I apply it to my kids it makes them hipper, lol
Keeping that one away from them lol, no need for the extra energy lol
This makes me want to take the plunge and try it out!
Question: Just got my order today… I want to mix lavender with carrier oil. 12 drops to 1 ounce. Do I just make 3-4 ounces and put in a spray bottle (the ones I bought from here!) to apply topically? No water? It is just that the carrier I bought is only 2 ounces… so 1 isn’t that much to put in the bottles. How long will 1 ounce last if used daily for just maybe spraying on arms of face?
No water would be necessary. You could just make up an ounce at a time, and that should be plenty. If just spraying the arms and face, it should last quite a while, I’d think. Also, it’s important to note that we recommend 9 drops per ounce for the face (an even 1% dilution).
This is a definite must have oil! Great for so many things! Uses are endless!
I had no idea that lavender can be used in so many ways!!
Lavender is amazing! I just got my lavender hydrosol & sprayed my bedding. So soothing
I love lavender so much! My favorite is use is diffusing during a nice relaxing bath. Also great for sleep.
Absolutely! Thank you for sharing!
Oh lavender. What would we do with you? With such a beautiful scent and so many uses, it’s hard not to fall in love with this oil.
I adore Lavender. It is a staple in our home for sure. It is my most used oil with so many different uses.
The 100 ml Organic Lavender has been a great addition since I use it every day for multiple uses diffusing and in carrier oilsI also use the lavender hydrosel.
Those are great choices, Joleen! Thank you for sharing!
Very interesting! I diffuse lavender every night and it helps me sleep. I have also successfully used it to help with bug bites and I believe it’s probably also helped with allergies and headaches. I may just have to try the body scrub! 🙂
Lavender really is an amazing oil! If you already love lavender, I’m sure you will love the body scrub!
Wow! I had no idea that lavender could be used for so much! It’s my favorite oil.
Lavender is such a powerhouse oil, there really is no other like it!
lavender was my first oil to finish, and i have purchased another 30ml bottle!
I wish I knew about using lavender for allergies sooner. Does it potentially interact with common allergy meds like some blue oils can?
None of our Lavender oils have any known contraindications. 🙂
Its great for colds and ear infections too and it even got rid of a scar on the cheek! So many uses for this!
Thank you. lavender. I am gointg to put my rollerball in my purse. Pkant Theraoy for all the helpful hints.
Thank you for the sharing of the uses of lavender, i really learnt a lot from the blog!
I was not a big fan of the scent by itself when I first purchased my starter set. However, since using in blends, making hair and beauty products, and purchasing more synergies with it, I have begun to enjoy it more and more. It is a very versatile oil and I know I have just scratched the surface of its uses, if the above blog is any indication! I have been using it in my hair products and my husband says my hair is softer than ever. I love my Relax synergy roller which really gives me a sense of calm when I’m stressed. I plan to try it next when I have a burn or insect bite to relieve the itch. Thank you for a very helpful blog!
Love lavender and I’m so excited to try out new things thanks to this post!
Love lavender! It’s in everything I make! Thanks for some new ideas!
lavender oil works really well for minor burns. when I use lavender oil on burns, the burns doesnt become watery blisters, the burn mark actually flattens and heal much faster with no scar
This blog was great timing.. I’ve been reading lots about Lavender online but I trust PT information the most!
I love lavender! It’s one of my most often used EOs!
My favorite lavender is lavender fine has a better smell than just plain lavender
So far Lavender oil is the only thing I have found to relieve muscle pain and make me feel more relaxed! I hope there are more oils out there that do the same thing but Lavender has been great!
I love lavender essential oil. One of my absolute favorites! In fact, I just bought my new supply today! #essentialoilsforlife
Wonderful oil! I had no idea it was so versatile! Thanks for the great info!
One of my girls gets nightmares from lavender so we avoid it st night but i love it for burns and itchy spots.
this is so true thanks for the extra info on lavender yours is by far the best smelling ever