Lavandula anguvstifolia
Lavender or Lavandula anguvstifolia is probably the most versatile and popular of all the essential oils. It’s smell alone, is wonderful and can be used as a perfume. It is used to elicit feelings of calm and relaxation, and is good for treating minor scrapes, chapped skin and lips, and even skin ulcers, burns and fungal infections.
We know about lavender’s effect on burns from a documented event suffered by a French chemist named René-Maurice Gattefossé . In 1910, he was involved in an explosion which occurred while performing an experiment while in his perfume lab. He had burns on his hands which became infected with gas gangrene, a condition which develops quickly causing the development of profuse sweating, swelling, gas and culminates with tissue death. This infection more than likely was picked up when he rolled in the grass to extinguish the flames from the explosion. Below is his description:
“The external application of small quantities of essences rapidly stops the spread of gangrenous sores. In my personal experience, after a laboratory explosion covered me with burning substances which I extinguished by rolling on a grassy lawn, both my hands were covered with a rapidly developing gas gangrene. Just one rinse with lavender essence stopped “the gasification of the tissue”. This treatment was followed by profuse sweating, and healing began the next day (July 1910).” 1,2,3
This is a very dramatic description, as the symptoms of gas gangrene really take more like 1-4 days to develop, but it is indicative of the power we now know exists in this particular plant’s essential oils. Robert Tisserand’s site lavender site includes data that indicates that Lavender is also considered effective against MRSA, acne, athlete’s foot, ringworm and Candida. 4 There are numerous references indicating that tea tree oil (also known as Melaleuca) is effective against toenail fungus, apparently Lavender is as well. 5
It may be strong enough to battle these multiple conditions, but it is also one of the few oils that is gentle enough to use with babies. Many parents add a drop or 2 on the the bedding or pillow of a restless child and find that he /she more quickly calms down and falls asleep. Lavender oil can additionally be used to soothe bug bites in children and babies. For children under 6 months of age, add a drop of oil to a little baby oil and apply with a cotton ball. If over 6 months, dilution is not necessary, and the oil can be added directly to the bug bite.
Lavender may also be ingested, and is used in tea, cookies, ice cream and lemonade. If you do wish to use Lavender in food however, make sure that you are using an appropriate form of this oil. Lavender oil made by Doterra and Young Living may be ingested, but other oils labeled at “fragrance” oils, are not suitable for diatary use. For example, if oils are appropriate for food use, the oils manufactured by Doterra have a “Supplement Facts’” table on the side of the oils' bottle, the same as what is seen in all foods in the US. Doterra’s Lavender oil bottle has this table printed on it.
It is clear that Lavender oil is extremely versatile. Similar to coconut oil, it can be used ON you as well as IN you. With all the ways that Lavender essential oil can be used, it is an excellent one to start with should you want to start using essential oils. Please do ensure however, to be wary of the brand. Doterra and Young Living brands are tested using gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy. These particular tests are used to indicate any impurities so they may be removed, or the oil batch discarded. Doterra also self certifies its oils as being “Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade” or "CPTG", to stress the level of testing its oils undergo (such as the gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy) and hoe pure their resulting oils are. it could be other oils are tested this way as well, but that would need to be investigated. Hmmmm, this could be the subject of a future post!
Here are some recipes in which you might be interested, which use Lavender...
DIY Moisturizing Lavender Bath Salt
References mentioned in this post are below:
1 http://roberttisserand.com/2011/04/gattefosses-burn/
2 Gattefossé R-M, Tisserand RB (ed.) 1993 Gattefossé’s aromatherapy: the first book on aromatherapy. CW Daniel, Saffron Walden, p 87
3 Wannissorn B, Jarikasem S, Siriwangchai T et al 2005 Antibacterial properties of essential oils from Thai medicinal plants. Fitoterapia 76:233-236
4 http://roberttisserand.com/2011/08/lavender-oil-skin-savior-or-skin-irritant/
5 Cassella S, Cassella JP, Smith I 2002 Synergistic antifungal activity of tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) and lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) essential oils against dermatophyte infection. The International Journal of Aromatherapy 12(1):2-15
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