Because I own a shop that sells fragrances, including essential oils, I get asked a lot of questions about them, specifically lavender. If you were to make a starter kit of aromatherapy and home remedy essential oils, this would definitely be in your top 6. The other five would be Tea Tree Oil, Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Peppermint and Grapefruit. But their stories are for another day. Please use caution when using essential oils around infants, children, pets and while pregnant.
While many people are aware that lavender has relaxing properties, it is very useful in a lot of other ways as well.
Lavender has antibacterial and anti-fungal properties.
- If you use cloth diapers, put a few drops in the final rinse to disinfect diapers.
- To make homemade baby wipe solution, add 2-3 drops of lavender to a pint of water and a dash of baby shampoo. Put in squirt bottle and apply to wipes or use it in a wipe warmer.
- It's often added to Chamomile to treat Excema.
- It's an effective treatment of lice.
- It heals burns, wounds, cuts and sunburns rapidly.
Lavender is a natural pest repellent.
- Place lavender sachets wherever you want to prevent moth attacks. Especially in wool yarn storage bins. No need to buy expensive ones, just use knee-high stocking stuffed with dried lavender.
- Toss a lavender sachet in the dryer for a clean smell and to keep bugs away from blankets, etc. When the sachet starts to lose it's strength, freshen it up with a few drops of the essential oil. If you don't have dried lavender, use small facecloth and put about 10 drops per load of lavender oil and toss it in with the rest.
- Hang lavender holders outside to deter mosquitoes. Apparently, they hate lavender. You can even add some lavender oil to your favorite unscented body oil or lotion for a natural mosquito repellent.
- Spiders don't like lavender, either. Especially when it's mixed with eucalyptus. Take about 5 drops of each and apply it along sliding glass door tracks, window ledges and other places they enter the house to deter them. You can apply it directly to a cotton ball and wipe it along those openings or create a spray solution using 5 ounces of distilled water. Shake well and spray.
Lavender by itself is a pretty amazing product. By tapping into the synergy of blending it with other oils, it's even better. Have fun experimenting with all of the things lavender can do.
Ok, so I don't run unless someone is chasing me and even then, I doubt I would get very far. So, when I saw one of my favorite yarn shops was doing a marathon that didn't require me to get up from my computer desk, I signed right up. EatSleepKnit.com is keeping track of how much yarn I order from them and how many bloggers click on their link or the button from my blog and check out their site. If you decide to buy something from them after visiting here, I get bonus yardage for my marathon. 
