Lavender Oil
November 12, 2011 No Comments
Essential oils for aromatherapy -- lavender oil
The 2 most useful essential oils for aromatherapy are tea tree oil and lavender oil.
Of the two, Lavender is my favourite.
Lavender can be the basis of many natural remedies.
- To relieve stress.
- To speed the healing of cuts and wounds.
- To treat burns.
- For insomnia.
The list goes on.
Being very accident-prone, I like to carry a bottle of lavender oil with me whereever I go. Especially for first aid. It is like a first aid kit in a bottle.
Lavender eases the pain and speeds the healing of wounds and burns. In fact, applying lavender oil immediately upon injury lessens the chance of permanent scarring.
In fact, modern aromatherapy started when a French chemist Rene-Maurice Gattefosse was severely burnt in a lab accident.
He had third-degree burns on his arm. To relieve the pain, he thrust his arm into the nearest vat of inert liquid which happened to be lavender oil.
The pain lessened and healed more quickly than he had expected. The best part was that the burn healed without a trace of a scar.
His research into the properties of lavender oil led to modern aromatherapy.
I once skewered my hand accidently eating guava with a wooden skewer. That’s a feat few, but the clumsiest people can achieve.
Immediately, I poured lavender essential oil over the puncture wound. Within an hour, the pain subsided tremendously. The wound healed without any marks.. to the point that I can’t tell which hand was punctured.
Lavender and tea tree are the only essential oils that can be used neat safely. Neat, meaning undiluted. All the other essential oils have to be diluted before use.
- For first aid, pour lavender oil on the wound or burn directly.
- For insomnia, put a few drops on your pillow so that the relaxing scent engulfs you as you sleep.
- For stress relief, add 10 drops of lavender oil to your bath and soak in it for half an hour at least. Or you can massage a drop on your temples.
- Or you can mix 3 drops of lavender essential oil with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and use that to massage the stress away.
Have fun with lavender.
Beauty
