Create your own essential oil!

Do you want to stop spending money on essential oils? Do you want to utilize your garden as much as you can? If the answer is yes: you are in the perfect place. A plant of lavender costs around £3 ( and it grows quickly) whereas the essential oil costs around £7 to £10.

In this article, you will find out the benefits of lavender and how to turn lavender from plant to oil.

Benefits of Lavender:

Lavender is an amazing scent plant that can be grown indoors as well as outdoors.

This plant features multiple benefits:

• As we talked about previously, lavender has been helping to fight insomnia. If you have difficulty to fall asleep a few drops of lavender oil on your pillow should help you. 
• You are an anxious person and would love to properly relax? Lavender is here to help! Some research (Salamati, A., Mashouf, S., & Mojab, F. (2017). Effect of Inhalation of Lavender Essential Oil Iranian journal of pharmaceutical research) shows that lavender oil help to reduce blood pressure, which is one factor of stress. Put a few drops of lavender oil in your hands and inhale or if you are in a hurry use a roll-on bottle and use it against your temple head in the morning. I found some roll-on bottle at herbs-to.com.
• Essential oils are used in dermatology. However, before using it fully on your skin, you need to make sure you are not having an allergic reaction to it. If you have acne, inflammation, eczema you should definitely talk with your dermatologist to incorporate lavender in your routine. To not be too harsh with your skin always mix it with a soothing oil or in water as the concentration can be too heavy at first.
• Reducing stress is one of the main benefits of Lavender. You can use the essential oil in diffusion in your house or as massaging oil.
• It is also a repellent for a lot of small bugs so you can use the essential oil in your laundry room or garage.

BE CAREFUL: never ingest lavender as it is as it can be poisonous: make sure you buy appropriate lavender supplements.

From plant to oil:

In our journey to be self-sufficient, we want to show you how to turn your lavender (that can be grown in or outdoors) into an essential oil. Spoiler alert: it is super easy!

1. First, you should cut your lavender when the flowers are not yet all open. Always cut more than you think as the oil can overpower the lavender and you will need more than you think. If you have too much you can always create small bouquet and have it in the bathroom or else.
2. Let the lavender dry in the shade. You can have it in a bouquet and upside down in a dry area. It normally takes no more than 2 weeks to dry.
3. When it is dry, take the lavender and put it in a jar. Crushing it a bit to release some of the aromas. Then pour some oil over the flowers, around 1 cm covering the flowers. (Personally, coconut oil is my favourite as safflower oil, olive oil and almond oil have too much scent). Shake it and store the jar in an open area but not at the direct sunlight and let infuse for 7 to 10 days. (if you do not want to wait you can pour the solution in a boiler and with a thermometer keep the solution at 50°C for up to 3 hours)
4. Then strain the oil and pour it in a small jar diffuser or a roller bottle.

If you feel the oil does not have enough scent repeat the operation with new dry lavender but the same oil.

You can keep this oil up to 6 months but I can assure you you will use it all before that.

I absolutely love this oil, it is so easy to do and use!

Let me know how did yours turn out and how you are using it! Follow us on Instagram and Twitter to know first about future posts.