Lavender is commonly recognised as an English and French plant but is in fact grown worldwide. Medieval and Renaissance women were known as “Lavenders” because they used Lavender sprigs in their stored linen and dried clothing draped over Lavender bushes.
For centuries Lavender has been used for bathing, healing and calming. It is renowned for pain relief of headaches, dizziness and digestive problems.
The purchase and use of Lavender, the growing of Lavender in the garden, follows a tradition over many cultures and spans millennia.
Popular medicine in Provence describes its soothing, antiseptic, healing and gastric properties. Lavender has also traditionally been used to kill worms in children, and to fight against lice and insect bites.
Today, lavender’s many constituent parts have been analysed and their wide therapeutic properties have been recognised. Essential oil of lavender enters into the composition of several pharmaceutical preparations including antiseptic, healing and anti-inflammatory products.
Lavender is indeed the basic component of any first aid kit or home pharmacy – the “Swiss army knife” of aromatherapy! You will be surprised at its secrets.
Daily household use of lavender in all its forms is a long standing tradition which perpetuates the image of a warm and comfortable family home.
These uses, such as bouquets or sachets in the closets to keep moths away and scent the linens, in pots pourri or diffusers to perfume the rooms in the house, or lavender water in the iron to scent the clothes being ironed, all benefit from the disinfecting and perfuming qualities of lavender.