Lavender Part 2:

I hope you all have taken the time to go buy some Lavender essential oil, because today we are going to talk about how to use it. I have two categories of uses: health and home.

Health:
This is how I use Lavender in my family to keep us healthy. It can be used many other ways, these are just my favorites.

• Preventative health:

If you have been exposed to an illness or disease, when you get home, give a lavender rub to you and your family. Mix 4-10 drops of lavender in with a carrier oil, such as jojoba, olive, or safflower and massage into skin. Here is an example: Last week, Ryan, myself, and my mom all had that terrible 24 hour stomach bug. Charlotte was obviously exposed to it - we were the three people taking care of her. I got sick first, and once we realized what it was we started massaging lavender and sweet orange oil onto her about three or four times the next two days. She did not get sick. Now, there is no way to know if she would have gotten sick without the oils...I'm pretty sure she would have, but it certainly did not hurt her to put those on. I would also give her the massage during the terrible swine flu season if we had gone to the mall/playground - she never got the flu.

• Healing:

Lavender is a wonderful oil to use to heal all kinds of ailments. I use it when I have any kind of skin lesion, such as a bug bite, a burn, or some unexplained bump. Yesterday, Charlotte had this really weird bug bite on her back and I put lavender on it - it was totally gone within about 30 minutes. My sister's friend was making fried jalepenos and she was handling so many peppers that they burned her hands. She tried about 3 different ointments, specifically for burns, until my sister convinced her to put lavender oil on them - the burning stopped immeditately- for skin problems, when you are treating a small area, you can put lavender oil straight on your skin, with no carrier oil - you can even do this on infants. Just use a small amount.
Lavender is also an anti-viral/anti-bacterial oil - meaning it will kill germs and viruses that are in your body. Put a drop or two on the inside of your wrists and rub them together - inhale deeply. The combination of absorption through skin and inhalation will make the oil more effective - it works really well with colds, because the particles go straight through your nose to your lungs - where most colds are - and then into your bloodstream.
I also take lavender baths- if you have a sunburn this is a really good idea. Last summer, I had very bad sun poisoning and I took a lavender bath in the evening. In the morning, the sun poisoning was pretty much gone - I am not making this up - it is amazing stuff!! I love it. Use 10-15 drops for your bath, and I usually dilute it in milk so that it will dissolve and not float on top- oil does not mix with water.

Home:
This is the way I use lavender around my home.

• Laundry detergent:

I make my own laundry detergent - I'll talk more about that later - and I alternate using homemade and storebought - the homemade isn't quite as good at cleaning the washer itself, so you need to alternate to keep your washer really clean. Anyway, lavender is a great addition because not only does it smell great - it kills any bacteria that may be on your clothing/linens.

• Cleaner:

You can add lavender to bleach, hydrogen peroxide, or alcohol(i used vodka b/c it is cheap) to make a disinfectant for your bathroom and kitchen. Lemongrass is also a great oil to use for this.

• Linen spray:

Drop 20-30 drops of lavender oil into water, and add a little bit of sugar as a preservative. Pour this into a spray bottle, shake, and spritz onto your pillows or comforter before bedtime (test an inconspicuous area to make sure that it doesn't stain your lovely linens).

• Air freshener/germ killer

You can buy these wonderful scentball diffusers, that will diffuse the oil into the air in your home, not only smelling great and helping you relax, but killing germs that may be floating around in the air.

So those are my favorite ways to use lavender essential oil. If you have any questions, email me here. Have a lovely day
jessica