Soothing lavender packs a punch: Home Medicine Cycle 16

Lavender is one of the most beloved herbs of all time. Gentle, soothing, beautiful and cleansing, its uses are many and surprisingly varied. You can use lavender to make your own cosmetics, to replace harsh and unhealthy synthetic scents. It's the only essential oil that most people can apply directly to their skin and thus it makes a great natural perfume. But it also has clinically tested calming and cleansing properties. 

Creative Commons image by Proimos from Sydney, Australia

I use most of my fresh lavender to make infused oil and salve. I also use purchased lavender essential oil. Repeated clinical studies have shown that massage with lavender oil or salve has a significant effect in calming anxiety, much better than massage without lavender. It is particularly indicated for premenstrual stress as well as menstrual pain. 

In one of the studies it was found that massage with lavender oil improved emotions and relieved depression in terminally ill hospice patients. Another found that it calmed children who had been hospitalized. And other studies have found that aroma therapy with lavender essential oil relieves insomnia and promotes deep sleep. Lavender can be added to tea as well and many of these same effects can be achieved by breathing in the steam and drinking a cup of tea with fresh or dried lavender blossoms added.

Note: It is important to obtain high-quality essential oil. Many producers, especially producers of high-demand oils like lavender, use unethical processing and other ingredients that result in low-quality oils that can be ineffective or harmful. 

Lavender also cleanses with gentle disinfectant qualities. It can help to regulate oily skin and relieve acne. As a result, I use it in most general salves for everyday skin care. It makes you smell nice and has a general calming and cheering effect. I also use the essential oil as a quick perfume because it can be applied directly to the skin, unless you have particularly sensitive skin (in which case it is better to dilute it a bit with almond oil). 

In the past I considered lavender mild but not particularly heavy duty. I would only include it in first aid salves if I had plenty of it (which is rare). However, given the latest research about lavender's ability to kill the bacteria that cause staph infections, I will be growing more of it

There are two exciting, recent discoveries concerning lavender: 

Creative Commons image by @sage_solar 

1. A controlled trial in 2012 found that breathing in the aroma of lavender essential oil had a significant impact in reducing migraines when compared with breathing in a neutral aroma. 92 percent of those who were in the lavender group experienced full or partial relief, as opposed to about half in the placebo group.
2. New research on lavender has found that it has powerful and possibly very specific ability to kill the bacteria that cause staph infections, including those that have become resistant to conventional drugs through the overuse of antibiotics (MRSA). These bacteria are one of the great terrors of today's medical profession, spreading uncontrollably through hospitals and causing significant suffering and even death. Initial findings show that lavender contains highly specialized compounds that specifically attack these bacteria. I hope there will be more research, but I intend to start adding lavender oil to my first aid salves in the meantime. Click here for my salve recipe.

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Please note that I am not a doctor and I can't prescribe specific remedies for individuals. Everyone is responsible for making their own decisions to try out herbal home medicine or not.