Lavender Love - Top Tips for Using Lavender

I can still remember picking long stems of lavender from my grandmothers garden, using it to make scented lavender bags or potions in bottles and buckets. The scent of it now sends me back to those carefree days in the fresh outdoors when we'd come home with pockets full of lavender buds, knees covered in mud and grass stains and we'd fall asleep with bunches of stems in jam jars next to our beds.

I still love its graceful colour, its gentle herby floral scent and use lavender all the time. Though I'm no longer ripping up plants from my grandmothers garden I do dream of growing masses of it one day, in a garden I don't yet have but one day..... well I can dream.

With a recent bout of colds and restless nights with my daughters I've once again called upon lavender essential oil to come to the rescue. It is my rescue remedy for restless nights, for stings and bites; luxurious facials and even my laundry.

So, I thought I'd share some tips on using lavender that I've picked up and adopted since my days of picking it from Grandmas garden:

1. Slumber. Use a few drops of lavender essential oil in a vapouriser at bedtime to sooth and calm babies and children. If you don't have a vapouriser put a few drops in a bowl of warm water and place on a radiator. 
2. Pillow. Put two drops of lavender essential oil on both sides of your or your child's pillow. It will help relax and calm a busy mind as you all fall asleep. 
3. Bathtime. So many baby bath bubbles and shampoos have added lavender to their ingredients because its known for its soothing calming properties. I add 6-8 drops of lavender in the bath and it fills the room with a delicious smell and not only will its antiseptic properties help with any of my daughters cuts and scrapes it also helps them wind down at the end of the day. 
4. First aid. Mix a couple of drops of lavender essential oil to some vegetable oil and use it where needed. Don't use it on broken skin though.
5. Coughs and colds. Mix two drops in a base oil or olive oil and massage onto the soles of your or children's feet. It will help battle the cold as well as relaxing an aching body. 
6. Massage. Sometimes if me or my children are achy I'll mix several drops of lavender with two tablespoons of sweet almond oil and gently massage aching limbs. I used to do this ritually when they were babies to calm and sooth them at the end of the day and to help them fall asleep. 
7. Laundry. I'm laundry obsessed and of all domestic chores this is heaven. I never use fabric softeners but I do occasionally add a couple of drops of lavender oil into the washing detergent. The laundry smells fresher and it helps to keep moths away too.
8. Moths monsters. Dab 1-2 drops of lavender onto a cotton ball and place into wardrobes and linen cupboards to help keep the pesty jumper eating beasts away, they hate the smell! Replace with new ones every few months.
9. Bug Off! Mosquito's and bugs don't like the lavender so rather than using over the counter creams and lotions on the skin add a few drops of lavender into a water spray and spritz over bare legs and arms.  
10. Sun burn. Take some lavender essential oil with you on your next holiday and use it as a cooling aftersun lotion by adding it to a tepid bath or using in a water spray to calm after sun exposure.
11. Headaches. Add a drop of lavender oil to a tablespoon of a base oil, almond oil or as natural an oil as you have and sweep across the forehead. It's a better option than immediately reaching for the paracetamol and more often than not will be all that's needed to send the headache away.
12. Face it. This is heaven at the end of the day once the kids are asleep and you need a little love and rejevenation.... Add a few drops of lavender oil to a bowl of hot water, place a towel over your head and let the steam from the bowl warm and cleanse you skin. It's especially good if you have a runny nose or a heady cold.

Lavender, with its healing, cleansing, calming, and antisceptic properties has so many uses its worthwhile keeping a little bottle of it (out of reach of the children) in your bathroom, If you have space to grow your own lavender there are further benefits you could have from adding some with honey into hot water for tea, to adding some to salads or cupcake recipes as well as making your own lavender sugar, or even perhaps making your own lavender crown just as my sister did here.

Grab a bottle of Lavender essential oil from our favourite shop Tisserand. here.  

This is not a sponsored blog we just love the stuff!

pics top pictures via national geographic, bottom pic via big sis!

---

This is part of 'The Art of Living' collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' and our weekly 'Wednesday Woo'. . If you want to see our latest loves take a look here.

Want to take a look behind the scenes of Sisters Guild? Our A-Z is here where we share a sentimental journey through family life.

If you'd like to receive our weekly newsletter to receive offers and news and find out the about our new collections sign up below.

sistersguild.com