About lavender essential oil… this is your guide. Lavender oil is one of the most common and easily recognisable essential oils.  Humans have used it for thousands of years. 

Ancient Egyptians used lavender oil as perfume, and in the process of mummifying their dead. Ancient Greeks used lavender medicinally. Romans used it for cooking, fragrances, bathing, in soaps and medicine. In France, during both medieval and renaissance times, lavender was used for washing people and clothes.  People hung their washing out over lavender shrubs to dry in the sun and give it a nice scent.

And today, people in many parts of the world still use lavender oil for most of the above uses: fragrance, medicine, cooking, cleaning.  We know it to help promote calm and it is in many sleep aids. We know lavender oil nown as the ‘grandmother’ or ‘queen’ of oils, due to it’s wide range of applications.

This article includes information about:

• How lavender essential oil is made
• Common uses
• Which lavender varieties are best for oil production
• How to make your own lavender oil

This article explains:

• What essential oil is and how to use it
• How to spot a good quality lavender essential oil
• Which are some good brands to buy

We also include a link to our article on how to make your own lavender essential oil – it is possible to make it at home if you have the right equipment and know how.

Lavender Essential Oil

What is it and how should I use it?

What is the difference between lavender oil and lavender essential oil? Although they sound the same, these are two different things, and the one you need depends on what you want to use it for.  Both oils have a range of uses and benefits, discussed more here.

Lavender essential oil is oil extracted directly from the lavender plant, usually using a method called steam distillation.  Essential oils are concentrated, normally strong-smelling and if you are buying oil, expensive.  Other names for essential oils are volatile oils, ethereal oils and aetheroleum.

If you want to use lavender essential oil, there are a few things to remember.  Firstly, it is very concentrated.  Most uses require only a few drops, and you should never apply essential oil directly to your skin. 

Using lavender oil

• For skin or body application, it is essential to dilute the essential oil in a carrier oil. A carrier oil, which is a neutral oil that has undergone minimal processing, is ideal for this purpose. Options include coconut oil, olive oil, and argan oil. For more detailed instructions on selecting and using carrier oils, click here. Additionally, always perform a patch test first, as some individuals may have sensitivities.
• You can add the lavender oil directly to other products for fragrance – add a few drops to your shampoo or cleaning products.
• For aromatherapy benefits, it’s best to put your lavender essential oil in a diffuser. An oil diffuser is a small gadget that helps to disperse tiny particles of the lavender essential oil into the air.  It makes your room smell lovely and you can safely inhale the lavender scent which can help with anxiety or help to get a good night’s sleep.
• Smelling – you can take a few sniffs of the oil before bed to get a better sleep, or put a few drops near your pillow.
• In the bath – a lavender bath is very calming and a perfect way to relax.  BUT – don’t add lavender essential oil directly into the bathwater.  It won’t disperse and because it is such a concentrated solution, your skin can get a irritated.  The best way to add essential lavender oil to your bath is to use a carrier oil, or add it to bath salts such as Epsom salts, or use castile soap.  These will help to disperse the lavender oil into your bathwater safely so you can lie back and enjoy the benefits of this magic oil.

How to identify a good oil

Lavender essential oils can vary in price a lot.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of fake oils on the market that claim to be essential when they are not.   No one really monitors the purity and quality of essential oils, meaning it is important to know how to spot a fake.

When you are looking to buy a bottle of lavender essential oil, you should look at the three P’s –  PLANTS, PACKING AND PROCESSING.

Plants

• The label should clearly state both teh known name (lavender) and the latin name (lavandula). There should be no other ingredients at all. Bonus if the label states which part of the plant were used.
• Plants that are free of non-organice pesticides, herbicides and fungicides are also preferable, so look for a well-known labelling system to show that the lavender was organic or bio if you can.
• Sometimes you’ll see words like organice, farm-grown, wild-crafted. Knowing how the plant was grown is desirable.

Packing

• Essential oils should be kept in dark coloured glass bottles. Never plastic, and never clear glass.  This helps to keep out sunlight which can deteriorate the properties of your oil.  The best colours are amber / brown, or cobalt blue. 
• The bottle sizes are usually small, (15 – 50ml, the most common size being 15ml (half an ounce).  Most bottles come with a small plastic cap to ensure only one drop comes out at a time, or a glass dropper.
• The label should say 100% pure, and please make sure it says essential (not essence of, etc).

Processing

• The label should state how the lavender oil was extracted (this is usually distillation but can also be expression).  Steam distillation is the best way to get lavender essential oil.
• Some essential oils claim to be ‘therapeutic grade’.  Don’t worry about this too much.  In reality, there is no standard quality grading system for essential oils, so you can’t really trust any reference to a particular grade of oil.

Recommended lavender essential oils

If you are lucky enough to live near a lavender farm, do go and buy your oil from there.  We are big believers in supporting local businesses, and it’s really cool to be able to see where the products you buy come from.  They might even offer tours so that you can learn a bit more about the oil you are purchasing.

Not many of us have easy access to a lavender farm, so it’s easiest to buy online.  Health shops, chemists and pharmacies often sell essential oils, but it can be harder to really research the options they have available. Buying essential oil online is easy and fast.  The small size of the bottles means that delivery is usually free or inexpensive.

Click here to see some options on Amazon

Getting it out – how to extract lavender essential oil

This is entirely possible if you have the right equipment, access to lavender plants, and can follow a few simple instructions. Moreover, the process is so fascinating that it deserves its own article. Therefore, click here or use the image to the left to learn more.  Before you know it, you’ll have our own essential oil.

Click here to learn how to make your own lavender essential oil at home