AROMATHERAPY AND ESSENTIAL OIL (LAVENDER OIL)

Thank you for reading this article. This article will provide brief information on the lavender plant, lavender essential oil. Plus, a little history of lavender essential oil.

Lavender is a fragrant plant, a low growing aromatic herb with thin gray leaves, but, bluish purple in color when in clusters.

It’s native to the Mediterranean region.

The name lavender comes from the Latin word lavere which means to “wash”. Lavender is a member of the mint family of plants. Lavender has being used for thousands of years as a remedy for many illnesses, this illnesses range from; flatulence, insomnia, headaches, stomachaches, depression, liver problems, loss of appetite, colds coughs, stress-related problems. Apart from its medicinal use, it’s also used for cosmetics, perfumes and balms.

A LITTLE HISTORY

In 1930 a French scientist Rene gattefosse, was the first to document the ability of lavender to regenerate tissue. This documentation was as a result of an explosion that occurred during an experiment, which burnt his hand.  Gattefosse dipped his hand into lavender and discovered that, his hand healed faster (thank you Rene gattefosse for this discovery).

Lavender oil

The most potent lavender specie of plants used to produce essential oil in aromatherapy is- lavendula officinalis. Lavendula  officinalis grows only at altitudes above 3000 feet. Lavender officinalis is also known to be resistant to cold and heat.

Lavender oil has three major constitutes, geraniol, cineola, and coumarin. This three constitutes makes lavender a good cleaning agent, a good antiseptic that, fights against viruses, fungi, microbes and bacterial.

TYPES OF LAVENDER

There are three kinds of lavender that are use, in lavender oil production.

1)      Common lavender

2)      Spike lavender

3)      Lavendin

In subsequent articles more information will be provided on each of this lavender plant, and how essential oil is extracted from them.

LAVENDER OIL EXTRACTION

Generally, lavender essential oil is extracted through steam distillation. During extraction steam is passed over the leaves and a condensing pip cools the vapor and the essential oil is separated from the water that results from the cooled vapor (that’s just an overly simplified explanation of steam distillation).

Thank you for reading this article.