You can learn more about the history and benefits of lavender here. To really take advantage of what lavender has to offer, try to layer your day with some of the very useful herbal products containing lavender and take advantage of the aromatherapy benefits of this wonderful herb.
Soaps and Shampoo
When you wake in the morning and hop in the shower, use a natural soap containing lavender. This soap might contain just the essential oil or it could have the actual lavender buds in it. Another product for the shower is shampoo with lavender oil in it. If you prefer a bath, just put a few drops under the hot running faucet.
Lavender Dryer Sheets
When the shower is over, use a towel fresh from the dryer in which you placed a lavender scented dryer sheet. Make these dryer sheets yourself by placing 1 inch of water in the kitchen sink and adding four to five drops of lavender essential oil to the water. Gather a few terry cloth rags, dip them in the water, ring them out very well and allow them to dry. Just toss one in the dryer every time you do a load of laundry.
Aromatherapy Perfume
After you have toweled off, you can use any lavender-based perfume. This perfume can be made in your own kitchen very easily by blending two drops of lavender essential oil with 1/4 cup of almond oil. Dab this mixture on your pulse points and it should last a through most of the day. Natural food stores carry genuine lavender essential oil, which is preferable over lavender perfume oil if it is to be used on your body because perfume oils do not have the beneficial properties of an essential oil.
Herbal Sachet for the Closet
Your clothes can also be scented with lavender if you hang a sachet in your closet. Sachets can be a simple or ornate. The simplest way to create one quickly is to cut the toe off of an old pair of stockings and stuff it with lavender buds if you have them available. If not, use the same toe and stuff it with a couple cotton balls infused with lavender oil.
Aromatherapy for a Good Night's Sleep
Enjoy the benefits of the aromatherapy while you're at work, and when you lay your head down again at night, be sure to use a simple lavender pillow underneath your regular fluffy pillow. This too is simply made by taking one cup of white rice, mix in 3 to 4 drops of lavender oil and microwave it for one minute to set the oil into the rice. Dump this rice into a cotton pillowcase. Fold it over and use a very simple stitch to close it. Let this pillow give you a relaxing night's rest and begin your day refreshed tomorrow.
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