The many uses of Lavender Essential Oil - Part 1
I was thinking today of all the things I need to do and it dawned on my that maybe some of you would be interested to hear about them.
I have been dabbling in the use of essential oils for healing for about a year. And I have also been using them for cooking as well. Today I had occasion to use one essential oil for both, Lavender.
A bit about Lavender
Lavender was one of the first essential oils to be used for healing, and this was discovered sort of by accident In 1910 by French chemist and scholar René-Maurice Gattefossé. Here is what he had to say about his epiphany...
“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).”
His application of lavender oil was clearly an intentional act, and the result impressed him greatly, and possibly saved his life. It was a special moment for him, and for aromatherapy.
Some of the uses of Lavender oil include the following:
- Reduce anxiety and emotional stress
- Protect against diabetes symptoms
- Improve brain function
- Help to heal burns and wounds
- Improve sleep
- Restore skin complexion and reduce acne
- Slow aging with powerful antioxidants
- Relieve pain
- Alleviate headaches
In addition, microbiological research shows that a number of essential oils are active against strains of Clostridium perfringens including winter savory (Satureja Montana) lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) lemon myrtle (Backhousia citriodora) lemon tea tree (Leptospermum petersonii) and tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia). . The essential oils don’t have the same drawbacks as antibiotics. So knowing this and that Lavender also has anti-bacterial properties, I thought it might help with my dog.
How I use Lavender for healing
In my introductory post I explained that I have 7 dogs! Well one of them, Sox who is the youngest, developed a weird open sore on his ear a month ago. Since then I have tried giving him antibiotics, putting bone broth in his food to boost his immune system, and putting coconut oil on it topically to kill the bacteria but nothing has helped, and it has even been getting bigger. I know it is bothering him because he has been scratching it pretty vigorously, which I'm sure doesn't help it to heal.
Anyway, I've been listening to a webinar series this week on essential oils and it occurred to me that maybe if I added some Lavender to the coconut oil, his ear might start to heal. (And also maybe the other dogs would stop licking the oil off his ear because they all love coconut oil.)
This is his ear this morning. I've already been giving the lavender oil for 2 days and you can see around the edges where the skin is normal color and not read and bleeding.
This is his ear this afternoon, it looks bad, but actually the area of skin where there is blood and weeping is smaller.
So what did I do?
First, I use the purest and most natural coconut oil I can get, which is cold-pressed, organic, extra virgin oil. It has not been heated or had the scent removed.
I melt a small amount of oil by putting the jar in the sun for a few minutes, that's all it takes
Then I dip a Q-tip in the oil to saturate it
Then I put 1 drop of lavender oil on the cotton swab to mix with the coconut oil. (You should always use a carrier oil with essential oils, especially on animals. This reduces the risk of irritation.)
Then I roll the cotton swap around the whole affected area to cover the whole surface and the edges.
I have been applying this mixture 2x a day, morning and evening.
I'll put an update about this in a couple of days so you can see the progress.