Lavender - Lavendula angustifolia

 This week's focus is on Lavender - possibly one of the most ubiquitous essential oils worldwide.  Lavender has it all and does it all.  This powerhouse oil is also one of the safest for both topical and inhalation use.  Let's take a look at its therapeutic properties.

Lavender is antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antioxidant, antispasmodic, cooling, sedative, and a skin cell regenerative.  It can help calm anxiety and nerves, stimulate the immune system, reduce allergic tendencies, and is a vasodilator.  It's gentle enough that even leading experts say it can be used neat on a bite, sting, or burn.  (They do not recommend using any essential oil neat - even lavender - on a regular basis.)  My experience has been that Lavender has plenty of strength diluted and/or as part of a blend so that I've never needed to use it neat.

It is not toxic and not a skin irritant.  

Lavender is one of the few oils considered safe to use around young children (at 0.5% under age 5).  

An example of its efficacy:  In 2018, I had three back surgeries - two were major.  Instead of taking pain medication, I made myself a post op blend with Lavender, Frankincense, and Balsam Copaiba.  DH rolled the blend on my back around the bandages (not on the incisions).  This blend did not eliminate all of the pain, but it reduced the pain to a bearable level -- and I didn't have to deal with any of the side effects pain meds would have caused.  As an added bonus, bruising and swelling were minimal.  Once the incisions healed, DH used the blend on the scars as well - those are also minimal now.

If you have an illness going through your house, Lavender as part of a room spray and in a cleaning regimen can help reduce the germ level in the air and on commonly used surfaces!