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Your Health & Wellbeing with Lavender

Healing Power of Lavender | Modern Scientific Research | Properties and Applications of Lavender | Methods of Use | Safety Guide

Nature’s Medicine Chest

Lavender is celebrated for its analgesic, antibacterial and antimicrobial properties. It is certainly deserving of its reputation as a first-aid kit in a bottle.

Though lavender isn’t the strongest antibacterial agent of all the aromatics (such as tea tree oil or thyme), it is the safest to use with children. Experts say pure, unadulterated lavender rarely causes an allergic reaction and has very low oral toxicity. It is also one of the few essential oils that can be applied undiluted (neat) to the skin.

Healing Power of Lavender

Lavender essential oil is used in eliminating lice, dandruff, halitosis, water retention, bloating, endometriosis, vaginitis, cystitis and sluggish circulation. Furthermore, it is used for dressing abrasions, bites, stings and splits on fingers and lips, as well as in relieving migraine, insomnia, athma, eczema, nausea and many other common disorders.

Lavender is also a nerve tonic and an antidepressant, boosting one’s spirits as well as helping to beat ‘the blues’ that accompany stress, illness and immune deficiencies.

The Greeks were already great admirers of the healing properties of lavender. They used it to treat wounded soldiers as well as wounds inflicted to the gladiators. In Medieval and Renaissance Europe, lavender from the monastery ‘infirmarian’s gardens’ was used to make lavender water – a decoction of vodka, gin or brandy mixed with lavender to treat migraine headaches.

To resist infection during the spread of cholera lavender was implemented by the 16th century France. During the Great Plague in London in the 17th century, it is suggested that a bunch of lavender would protect the wearer against the deadly disease. Grave robbers were known to wash in Four Thieves Vinegar, which contained lavender, after doing their dirty work and apparently avoided almost certain death.

During World War I and II, lavender was used on the battlefield to prevent infections and relieve pain.
The 1920’s saw a true re-birth of lavender oil in modern aromatherapy thanks to Dr. René-Maurice Gattefosse who inspired a new appreciation for this healing agent.

A renewed interest in alternative healing techniques such as phytotherapy, aromatherapy, homeopathy, reflexology, nutrion, kinesiology, etc. inspired a new generation of interested researchers, doctors, aromatherapists and perfumers who have further expanded the knowledge of lavender and its uses.

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Modern Scientific Research

Today, hospitals and cutting-edge practitioners throughout western Europe and the Middle East are already successfully employing essential oils such as lavender as a regular mode of treatment for illnesses and disease ranging from colds and influenza, to stubborn cases of antibiotic-resistant infection (including tuberculosis), and even to cancer and other chronic degenerative diseases.

What's more, large segments of the general public in western Europe and the Middle East already use essential oils in their daily lives as a matter of course, particularly for the powerful healing, oxygenating, immune-boosting and anti-infection benefits they gain.

In France, for example, essential oils are used primarily for infection control. Only doctors can be certified as an aromatherapist or phytotherapist in France. These doctors can diagnose and prescribe essential oils and insurance companies pay for them.

Modern scientific research continues to uncover new benefits that lavender can offer, as well as proving the herbal lore of centuries gone by. For example:

• Laboratory studies have shown that lavender oil can eradicate certain antibiotic-resistant bacteria. (Studies conducted at the Cornell University, New York)
• Lavender is effective against a type of pathogenic Streptococcus often involved in coughs and colds. (Studies conducted by Dr. P. Belaiche)
• A blend of lavender, clove, cinnamon and lemon balm (melisa) was found to be as effective in treating bacterial bronchial conditions as were commercial antibiotics. (1973 study by German researchers Wagner and Sprinkmeier)
• Essential oils stimulate the immune system rather than depressing it, which is what allopathic drugs do. (Dr. Kurt Schnaubelt and Robert Tisserand)
• Vapours of lavender oil induce sleep equally as well as sleep medications, with mild broad-spectrum sedative actions. (British medical journal The Lancet)

Work by Madame Marguerite Maury, Robert Tisserand, Shirley Price, Dr. Jane Buckle, Pierre Franchomme, Dr. Daniel Pénoël and Daniel Ryman (just to name a few), have carried forward the study and use of lavender.

No one fully understands the complex, synergistic healing mechanisms of medicinal plants. However, we seem to be entering an era in which science will unlock many of the molecular 'mysteries' of the energetic and chemical pathways through which plant oils communicate and interact with the human body. Continuing research may someday further explain how this works.

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Properties and Applications of Lavender

Soothing Remedy / Pain Relief

Lavender has pain-relieving properties. It is a muscle decontractant and antispasmodic agent. It is valuable for conditions involving spasms or pain due to rheumatism, arthritis, muscular aches and pain, cramps, toothaches, earaches, period pains and indigestion.

Stress-Related Conditions

Lavender has a regulating effect on the nervous system. It has a balancing and harmonizing nature. Julia Lawless in her book Lavender Oil; The New Guide to Nature’s Most Versatile Remedy, writes that in our age of extremes, it is this regulating, balancing and harmonizing quality above all which may account for the strength of the popularity of lavender today!

She continues to point out that of all the essential oils, lavender seems to represent ‘the middle way’ – being neither ‘yin’ nor ‘yang’ in the extreme. In this respect, Lawless explains, lavender is a supreme ‘adoptogen’, i.e., it can have a restorative effect in cases of listlessness or weakness, yet has a calming effect on those prone to hyperactivity or agitation.

In addition, lavender oil can have either a tonic and/or a sedative effect on the central nervous system depending on the state of the individual concerned. This makes it one of the most valuable oils for all types of stress-related conditions, where the nervous system can often be both depleted and over-stimulated simultaneously.

Stress is a common culprit that depletes the immune system, and can either cause or trigger all types of secondary conditions such as digestive or circulatory problems. In the long run, stress makes an individual more susceptible to all kinds of disease. This fact is now being recognized to a greater extent by the orthodox medical establishment.

Alternative treatments such as therapeutic massage, phytotherapy, homeopathy, reflexology or aromatherapy are being implemented at a greater scale than ever before to battle the stress symptoms – and lavender often plays a key role.

Lavender exhibits properties that help the body fight against unproductive stress, such as physical or emotional stress, but it will not interfere with the individual’s response to a normal – and even desired, productive type of stress.

In a similar fashion, lavender demonstrates harmonizing properties between the polar extremes of cold and warmth. For example, if an individual is suffering from a ‘hot’ condition such as a fever or an inflammation, applying lavender will have a cooling effect.

On the other hand, chills, muscle cramps or nervousness – considered to be ‘cold’ conditions will benefit from lavender’s warming effect. Once again, Lawless points out that by creating an equilibrium within the body, lavender can effect both physical and the psychological changes, thereby enhancing an individual’s overall health.

Secondary Applications

Though lavender is not the strongest antibacterial agent of all the aromatics (as tea tree or thyme, for example), lavender has fungicidal qualities and is a useful preventative remedy against all types of infectious conditions including colds or flu.

In cases of fever, lavender has in addition a sweat-promoting as well as fever-reducing effect. Furthermore, it is used to detoxify the body of impurities, is used as an agent to help expel intestinal worms and shows to destroy parasites. For centuries it has been used as a remedy for insect bites and stings and as an effective insecticide.

Skin Care

Due to the above mentioned properties, lavender is one of the most useful skin care oils. Its antiseptic qualities and aroma have been cherished for centuries in the perfume and cosmetic business. It is gentle on the skin, has wound-healing properties which encourage tissue or cell regeneration. On cuts and wounds, lavender not only speeds up the healing process, but also prevents scarring.

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Methods of Use & Safety

There are many beneficial ways to use lavender essential oil. Learn more about lavender's versatility as a healing agent and how to use it effectively.

However, as with all essential oils, it is highly concentrated and should be treated with respect. The Lavender-Blu Safety Guideguide is intended to provide you with more information on what precautions to take while using essential oils.

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