Answers For YOUR Health

Lavender Herbal Remedies to Wash Away the Ills of the Day

Lavender has always been one of the most popular herbs used in herbal remedies. Lavender's name is derived from the Latin word lavarre, which means to wash. The most common types of healing lavenders are L. angustifolia and L. spica. French lavender, L. stoechas, is one of the most commonly used varieties of lavender.

The flowers of the lavender plant are used to create a wide variety of herbal remedies. The character of the lavender flowers is described by traditional herbalists as bitter, cooling and mostly dry. These flowers contain tannins, volatile oils, coumarins, triterpernoids, and flavonoids. Like all essential oils, the Lavender oil must be diluted in a base cream or oil depending on how you will use it. Dried Lavender petals are most comforting in potpourris and sachets for the closet, clothes drawers or under your pillow.

Lavender is well regarded for its ability to promote bile flow, and is well known as a relaxant, antispasmodic, circulatory stimulant, and an antiseptic, a tonic for the nervous system, an analgesic, and a carminative. In ancient Arab medicine, lavender was widely used as an expectorant. In the folk medicine of Europe, lavender was used as a wound herb.

Current Lavender Herbal Remedies

Lavender essential oil is one of the most popular of all aromatic essential oils and can be used to treat a large variety of ailments.

Many herbalists recommend that lavender essential oil be an integral part of any household first aid kit as the oils can be used to create a variety of herbal remedies.

The essential oil of lavender can be used to make a healing cream. Simply add a few drops of lavender essential oil to a chamomile-based cream to treat skin problems such as eczema.

You can also add a few drops of lavender essential oil with a few drops of water to treat scalds, burns, or sunburn.

Lavender essential oil can also be used to create a potent chest rub. Simply add 1 ml of oil to 5 drops of chamomile oil and rub into chest to treat bronchitis spasms or symptoms of asthma.

To treat lice problems, Lavender can also be used as a hair rinse. Simply dilute 5-10 drops of essential lavender oil in water for lice problems. The hair rinses can also be used on a fine comb to treat the hair for nits.

Lavender essential oil can also be used to make a wonderful massage oil. Combine 1 ml of lavender essential oil into 25 ml carrier oil for you multiple use massage oil. Use this massage oil for treating painful muscles. You can rub this oil into the temples and the nape of the neck to treat tension headaches and migraines.

Lavender essential oil can also help protect against insect bites and stings. I do believe the original use for dried lavender was as a bug repellant in homes. Not only did it give the home a more pleasant smell but it deterred the fleas and lice from taking up residence as well.

Simply smelling lavender can prove healing. Lavender is one of the most important herbs of aromatherapy. It is highly regarded for helping to ease feelings of stress, anxiety, and it can help relieve the symptoms of insomnia.

If your climate will allow it, try planting Lavender in your garden. It spreads quickly so you might want to grow it in a container. I have not had much luck growing it in the house, but I do not have a green thumb.

There are some cautions that accompany the use of lavender. It is strongly recommended that women who are pregnant avoid high doses of lavender. High doses of lavender in any form have been shown to be a strong uterine stimulant.

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