10 Ways to Use Lavender Essential Oil

If you can have only one bottle of essential oil at home (or on a desert island, for that matter), it must be Lavender (Lavandula officinalis or Lavandula angustifolia). This versatile oil has so many uses, it is impossible to list them all. But here are 10 of them:

1. Stress or Tension Headache: Rub a couple drops of Lavender around the temples and at the base of the skull.
2. Insomnia Cure: Put a couple drops of Lavender on the corner of your pillow before bedtime (this has also worked for my little Apple).
3. Sunburn and Minor Cuts/Scrapes: Apply Lavender oil topically at the site of the cut, scrape, or sunburn.
4. Minor burns: Apply Lavender oil 3 times daily to the site of the burn until it is healed.
5. Anti-mosquito: When traveling and staying in doubtful hotels, I avoided mosquitoes by putting a drop of Lavender on a cotton ball and using it to rub my sheets before bedtime – I was always bite-free!
6. Mosquito bites and insect stings: If you DIDN’T do what I suggested above and have already been bitten, applying Lavender to the site works really well for stopping itching and pain.
7. Get young children to bed: Putting 2-3 drops of Lavender oil in a child’s bath will usually cause their eyelids to droop (this worked well on my nephews when they were toddlers – I used to put a drop on their shirts).
8. Meditation Aid: Put 6-7 drops of Lavender in the water basin of an Aromatherapy diffuser and set a calming, relaxing environment for yourself. Sometimes it works SO well that I fall asleep instead of meditating!
9. Children’s Travel Aid: Scenting your children’s clothes and room with Lavender when you travel can help them to adjust to alien surroundings and bask in the safety and comfort of home, even when away. You can do this by putting 1 drop of Lavender on a cotton ball and putting it in a plastic baggie containing their clothes.
10. Stress and Anxiety: A full-body massage with Lavender and Sweet Almond oil will definitely go a long way towards alleviating stress and tension…the trick is finding someone to give it to you!