If you’ve ever come across fresh lavender, you may find it hard to resist. If you’ve been charmed by these sweet purple flowers and you’re wondering how to use fresh lavender, you’re in the right place.

Besides being a cheerful presence in your home (which for many, is good enough) lavender also comes with a long list of benefits.

Useful Properties Of Lavender

Lavender is often associated with its beauty and fragrance. But beyond sparking joy, those fragrant lavender flowers can really pull their weight around the house. Lavender plants contain a variety of phytonutrients that may have therapeutic benefits.¹

• Lavender may support a positive mood.^2,3,4,5
• Lavender may help support quality sleep.^6,7
• Topical use of lavender may help support hair health.⁸
• Lavender may help to ease discomfort from headaches.⁹
• Lavender may contain compounds that help repel certain insects, like mosquitoes and moths.¹⁰

How can you take advantage of the impressive properties of lavender? Read on for a few practical suggestions. 

Using Lavender Plants Around the House

Protect Your Clothes

Take advantage of lavender’s bug-repelling properties and use it to protect your clothes from moths.¹¹ Simply place a few satchels of dried lavender flowers in your closet. Bonus: lavender will also make your clothes smell heavenly.¹² 

Keep Your House Smelling Fresh With Lavender Sachets

Do you love the floral fragrance of lavender? Use it around your home to keep things smelling fresh and clean. Remember, lavender has been shown to help ease feelings of stress, so you’ll also reap those benefits when you use lavender in your home. 

Here’s how: Mix two parts dried lavender buds and one part rice and add it to homemade or store-bought sachets. Tuck the sachets in drawers around your house to keep linens, clothes, and even shoes  smelling nice.¹³

Brew A Cup Of Tea

Enticed by lavender’s potential feel-good benefits? Why not brew a cup of tea from dried or fresh lavender flowers?

Here’s how: Boil 8 oz of water, add 4 tsp of fresh lavender buds to a tea ball, place the tea ball into the water, and let it steep for 10 minutes. Enjoy.¹⁴

Using Lavender Plants In Your Cooking

If you don’t typically think of flowers as a culinary ingredient, it may be time to take another look at lavender. When prepared correctly, lavender can lend a light, floral note to dishes ranging from lamb chops, cocktails, and baked goods. Here are a few ideas.

Here’s how: Boil 8 oz of water, add 4 tsp of fresh lavender buds to a tea ball, place the tea ball into the water, and let it steep for 10 minutes. Enjoy.¹⁴

• Create a lavender simple syrup to add flavor to iced tea, lemonade, cocktails, or baked goods batter.
• Use a lavender-infused oil mixed with other herbs like rosemary and garlic to marinate meat before you grill it.
• Grind culinary lavender buds into sugar, and use it to make unique baked goods like cookies and cakes.¹⁵

Using Lavender Plants As Part of Your Beauty Routine

Soothe Skin

Lavender’s unique properties make it a great ingredient for soothing salves and balms. Lavender may be able to help with:

• Dry skin
• Redness
• Itching¹⁶

If you’d like to test some of these benefits, you can create your own soothing salve with dried lavender flowers. To create the salve, gently heat lavender flowers in a carrier oil like almond oil. Add some lavender essential oil if you have it. Strain the mixture, mix in beeswax pellets, let it cool, and apply to your skin.¹⁷

Wrinkles

Lavender oil contains antioxidants, which may help protect your skin  from wrinkle-causing free radicals.¹⁸ 

To use lavender on wrinkles, infuse a carrier oil with lavender flowers and apply it directly to your face. Always do a patch test first, and be sure to consult your dermatologist before changing your skincare routine.¹⁹

Scalp Health

Lavender may help with common scalp issues like dandruff.^20,21 

To use lavender on your hair, first, infuse a carrier oil like coconut oil with lavender flowers. You can do this by gently heating the flowers in the oil and letting it cool. 

Apply it in the shower, and rinse it off after 5-10 minutes. Again, always check with your dermatologist before applying lavender oil (always dilute) directly on your skin.

What About Lavender Essential Oil?

While there are many uses for fresh lavender plants, lavender is particularly versatile when you can use it in its oil form. If you have a fresh plant or a bundle of flowers at home, first you’ll need to turn it into an essential oil. Here’s how:

 

Ingredients

• A slow cooker
• Distilled water
• 3-4 cups chopped lavender

 

Instructions 

• Add the lavender to the slow cooker and cover it completely with distilled water. 
• Bring the water to a boil and then turn the heat to low, letting it simmer for 3-4 hours.
• Let the mixture cool down, and then place it in the refrigerator overnight.
• The next morning, pull the slow cooker out of the fridge. A thin film of oil should have formed on top of the water.
• Carefully lift this oil out of the water with a spoon and add it to a colored glass container.

 

To Use

You can use your DIY lavender oil in any application that calls for lavender essential oil. It may not be as potent as store-bought oils. If that’s the case, use more than the recipe calls for.²²

Uses For Lavender Essential Oil

• Protect Your Clothes from moths by spritzing them with diluted essential oil.
• Refresh Your Home with a homemade air freshener spray. To make it, fill a spray bottle with ¾ cup of water, 2 tablespoons real vanilla extract, 10 drops lavender oil, and 5 drops of chamomile essential oil.²³
  
• Keep Rooms Smelling Fresh with a mason jar air freshener. To make, mix together ½ cup of baking soda and 25 drops of lavender essential oil in a mason jar. Leave the jar out on your counter to infuse the room with its sweet scent.²⁴
  
• Deodorize Rugs And Carpets with lavender oil. Add 8 drops of lavender oil to a ½ cup of baking soda, sprinkle it over your carpet, wait a few minutes, and vacuum it up.
• Freshen Up Laundry. Add a few drops of lavender essential oil to your washer or dryer next time you do your laundry.
• Disinfect Surfaces. Mix a few drops of lavender oil with bergamot or lemon essential oil and 2 cups of white vinegar. Add this to a spray bottle and use the cleaner on non-porous surfaces around your home.²⁵

 

Is Lavender Safe For Everyone?

Feeling motivated and ready to sprinkle dried lavender buds everywhere? Great. But before you do, keep a few things in mind:

• Check with your doctor or pharmacist to make sure lavender won’t interfere with any prescription medications.
• Seek the advice of your doctor before using lavender medicinally.
• Be sure to dilute lavender essential oil before using it on your skin.
• If you plan to cook with lavender, be sure you are using culinary lavender specifically made for cooking.

 

Sources:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5878871/
2. https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0192415X12500632
3. https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.027748-0
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5645596/
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3612440/
6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4505755/
7. https://bpsmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1751-0759-7-12
8. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9828867/
9. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/prt/2016/8158693/
10. https://www.compoundchem.com/2017/07/10/lavender/
11. https://www.compoundchem.com/2017/07/10/lavender/
12. https://nymag.com/strategist/article/how-to-prevent-moths.html
13. https://food52.com/blog/12688-diy-lavender-sachets-to-make-your-sock-drawer-smell-like-heaven
14. https://www.healthline.com/health/healthy-sleep/how-to-make-lavender-tea#3
15. https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/how-to/article/cooking-with-lavender
16. https://www.healthline.com/health/lavender-oil-for-skin
17. https://nofussnatural.com/simple-lavender-salve/
18. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1021949814000799
19. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321645#application
20. https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/hepo/60/2/article-p56.xml
21. https://bmcdermatol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-5945-11-14
22. https://www.diynatural.com/diy-essential-oils/
23. https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2013/06/homemade-air-fresheners.html
24. https://thefrugalgirls.com/2015/06/lavender-baking-soda-air-freshener.html
25. https://info.achs.edu/blog/we-love-lavender

 

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