The sweet smell of lavender evokes beautiful images. It’s no wonder that so many people love this smell and want to bring home a piece of this flower. Its popularity makes it a great option in teas, soaps, candles, sachets, perfumes and herbal remedies. In addition to just being a lovely smell, it has many benefits as well. Our favorite brand is Sky Organics lavender oil, which can be bought online.
Benefits of Lavender Oil
It’s most famous quality is as a calming agent and sleep aid. Lavender oil has been shown to be as effective as over-the-counter sleep medication in treating insomnia and irregular sleep cycles. Just a little dab on a pillow can help you fall asleep quicker. It also soothes and relieves moderate anxiety and depression and reduces headaches brought on by stress. The oil, when added to oxygen, has been shown to reduce pain. It also has antibacterial and antiviral properties, making it a great oil for purifying the air and relieving congestion. Topically, its antibacterial properties make it a great acne cleanser and skin cream additive.
The scent of lavender is also a natural bug repellent! It can be used to repel mosquitoes as well as to reduce inflammation from their pesky bites. It can reduce the pain from bites and can also soothe achy muscles and joints, and it’s a menstrual cramp remedy. The combination of such a long list of possible therapies and its familiar, pleasant smell make lavender oil one of the most popular essential oils and often one of the first that people try out. Click here to read more benefits.
How to Buy
If you’re looking to buy lavender oil, you won’t have to go far. With the increasing popularity of both aromatherapy and DIY beauty products, essential oils are easier than ever to get a hold of. They are often sold in drug stores, health food stores, and home decorating stores. Bed, Bath and Beyond, Target, GNC, Wal-Mart and Walgreens all carry lines of essential oils.
There are a dozen companies online that specialize in sourcing essential oils such as Bulk Apothecary and Organic Infusions. However, because there is little to no regulation of the terms used in selling essential oils, it can be hard to know if you’re getting what you paid for.
If you buy in the store, you get the usual benefit of being able to see and hold the product before you buy it. You will often find pre-mixed blends and possibly a good sale price. When shopping online, many companies offer free shipping on essential oils and wholesale prices to frequent shoppers. For quality and convenience, we recommend shopping on Amazon.com.
What to Look For
This oil is almost always sold in one or two ounce glass bottles with a small glass drop applicator. Whether you’re buying online or in store, it’s important that you know what it is that you need.
Many essential oils are extracted using synthetic chemical solvents. If the oil is going to go into a candle or air freshener and you don’t mind chemical residue floating in your air, then you can choose from any brand and option— just shop for price.
If the oil is going to be in direct contact with your skin however, or in a finished product that will be for your skin, then it’s important to get something of a higher quality. This would mean you should buy a therapy grade product that has been steam distilled and contains no additives. Additives can be cheaper scents that are used to dilute the product, or they can be carrier oils that you could easily mix on your own.
It’s important that the oil be pure and not diluted with a carrier oil because a pure oil should be potent with only one or two drops. In this way, a one-ounce bottle can last a long time. If the oil is diluted, it will take four or five drops for an effect that still doesn’t equal a couple drops of the pure one. In that case what seemed like the cheaper bottle will actually be more expensive.
Our Recommended Brand
If you’re looking for an oil of exceptional quality and concentration, then we recommend Sky Organics lavender oil. It’s 100% USDA certified organic French lavender, so you know that when you smell that sweet smell and see that image in your mind of a peaceful abbey surrounded by purple fields, it’s the real thing. It is steam distilled and undiluted, with no additives and no chemicals.
The oil is manufactured in the United States and comes in a solid 1 oz. bottle. The company also offers free shipping on all of its products, as well as a large bank of recipes and suggestions for conventional and creative uses on its website.
Conclusion
So whether you are planning to add it to your bath or put it on your pillow, lavender oil is a great natural extract to add to your arsenal of home and self-care products. There are a lot of options out there, but this is an area where it’s worth buying the best. A great product will work better and go further than a cheap one.
If you are experienced at using essential oils, than you’ll appreciate a quality oil. And if you’re just making your start, then a quality brand will reward you with sweet dreams, relieved stress and many more benefits. You’ll be happy, unhurried and hooked.