Enormously versatile oil (Lavender)

Member Name: merlina

Product:	Lavender
Date:	10/09/00 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: safe and effective

Disadvantages: -

Lavender is one of the most widely used, and easy to use of all the essential oils. Along with tea-tree, it's safe for everybody to use with no specialist information or training - as long as a few common-sense precautions are observed.

Like tea-tree it's one of very few that can be used neat on the skin and which is very unlikely to produce irritation. The main caveat to that, however, is that recent research has shown that repeated/constant use of the neat oil can lead to sensitisation, so don't overdo it!

Lavender's uses are also quite widely known and include:
* A few drops on the pillow or sheets to aid sleep
* vaporising in a burner for relaxation
* gently massaged into temples and/or wrists for migraine and tension headaches
* dabbed neat onto insect bites and stings

Here's a few more that I'm particularly keen on:
* Mix 50/50 wih peppermint oil in a carrier oil and massage gently on abdomen for IBS and period paid
* About 10 drops in a footbath for athletes' foot
* mix with olive or sunflower oil, massage into scalp and leave overnight for dandruff
* About 15 drops in a bowl of hot/boiling water and inhale the steam for respiratory infections and chronic bronchitis

It's also highly effective against ringworm in both humans and animals (and is one of few oils safe to use, in moderation, on cats - not that they'll thank you for it!)

Like so many oils, it's becoming harder to ensure you get the real thing.
'Proper' lavender will be labelled with one of the following latin names lavandula.angustifolia; l.officianalis or l.Vera (they're all the same thing).
On the other hand L.latifolia (spike lavender) has not dissimilar properties to l.officianalis but is more irritating and less effective; while l.intermedia (lavandin) is much cheaper and is sometimes used by unscrupulous companies to dilute 'true' lavender
. If you get some lavender oil that smells 'herby' rather than flowery, it may well have been adulterated in this way. Lavandin, again, has some similar properties to true lavender but is much more stimulating to the nervous system

Just for the record, not everyone loves the smell of this. I for one can't stand it!

Summary: