Sumptuously smelling, lavender isn’t just a beautiful flower for your garden. From helping you drift into the land of nod to some wonderful skin and hair care benefits, lavender has earned its place inside your home as well as outside.
Lavender (Lavandula) is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family. Known for the strong aroma from both the flowers and foliage, lavender is a staple in many gardens around the world.
Find out all you need to know about this purple-hued plant in our ingredient spotlight.
6 lavender oil benefits for skin and hair
1. Helps aid sleep
Probably one of the best known benefits of lavender oil is its impact on sleep. Several studies have found that inhaling lavender oil before going to bed can improve the quality of your sleep. Lavender oil for sleep is a big market, with room sprays, pillow mists and diffusers all featuring the aromatic oil to help you sleep better.
Getting a restful night’s sleep is absolutely essential to help your body regulate itself, with poor sleep contributing to unbalanced hormones, impaired brain function and slower metabolism. Find out how to sleep better with our dedicated blog.
2. Has a calming effect
One of the reasons why lavender oil is so beneficial to help you drift off is its calming properties. Alleviating anxiety, lavender oil can both boost mood and reduce stress – making it an essential ingredient to incorporate into your daily routine.
3. Fights free radicals
Lavender oil is known to have antioxidant properties, making it a useful ingredient to incorporate into your hair care and skin care routines. Essential for fighting off free radicals and the damage they can cause to your skin.
Antioxidants stop oxidisation from happening, so that free radicals are not released and so cannot steal electrons from healthy atoms. Free radical damage causes a breakdown to the DNA of your skin and skin damage.
This damage is evident on the skin with issues such as dryness, uneven pigmentation, wrinkles, broken blood vessels and crepey skin. When your skin is continuously exposed to free radical damage, these effects are more notable as they accumulate.
4. Anti-inflammatory properties
Lavender essential oil can display anti-inflammatory activity. This is important as inflammation can cause several uncomfortable symptoms, such as redness, dryness, itching and pain.
For those with sensitive scalps or facial skin conditions, inflammation can make things worse. Incorporating lavender oil in your hair care can help to ensure your scalp remains soothed, and in your skincare to keep your skin feeling its best.
5. Reduces breakouts
Studies have shown that lavender oil is naturally antibacterial and antiseptic, making it ideal for those with acne-prone skin. Pustules in particular can be reduced by using antibacterial and antiseptic ingredients. The pus that forms in this type of acne can lead to infection if popped, so always resist that temptation!
One of the main lavender oil benefits for skin is that the oil is also non-comedogenic, meaning that it will not clog your pores. As many types of acne are caused by dead skin cells, bacteria and other debris being trapped in your pores, using non-comedogenic skin care ingredients is essential.
6. Supports the moisture barrier
Lavender oil is also a great gentle moisturising agent, helping to restore the skin’s moisture barrier. Moisturised skin is happy skin that can regulate and repair itself well.
Lavender oil uses
Lavender oil for hair
Helping to promote hair growth and reduce skin inflammation – remember your scalp is still your skin – lavender oil is a wonderful ingredient that can be included in your hair care products.
Our Shampoo Crème is formulated using lavender flower oil, as well as a whole host of hair-loving ingredients such as coconut oil and rosemary oil. Delivering up to three times as many washes as a traditional liquid shampoo, this shampoo is 100% natural.
Lavender oil for skin
With anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiseptic and antioxidant properties, lavender oil is the ideal skincare ingredient to ease your skin woes.
Opt for our Citrus Blend Coffee Face Scrub that is formulated with coffee grounds to gently buff away dead skin. Infused with lavender oil, coconut oil and shea butter, this scrub gently moisturises as well as exfoliates.
Our Mineral SPF with UVA and UVB protection is infused with aromatic lavender, sunflower and raspberry seed oils. Moisturising as well as protecting, this SPF uses naturally derived non-nano zinc oxide to protect the skin and antioxidant raspberry seed oil to defend against free radical damage.
Lavender oil for sleep
Lavender oil is wonderful for promoting quality sleep, with the delicately sweet scent being used by many to help them fall asleep and sleep better.
A wonderful way to use lavender oil for sleep is to use our Vegan Hand Cream which is infused with both lavender flower oil and hibiscus flower extract. Apply to the hands and massage gently until the cream is fully absorbed into the skin.
This hand cream is made with upcycled hibiscus flower acids from the food supplement industry, helping to protect the skin and stimulate cell renewal. Part of our refill scheme, this hand cream is a staple in your body care routine.
Lavender oil for hair and skin: FAQs
Does lavender oil promote hair growth?
Studies have shown that lavender, cedarwood, thyme and rosemary oils have hair growth-promoting properties. The wonderful news is that our Shampoo Crème is formulated using rosemary, cedarwood and lavender oils, so you get the best hair care benefits possible.
Can I add lavender oil to my bath?
Absolutely! Adding lavender oil to your bath is a wonderful way to unwind and relax. Instead of adding some drops of essential oil straight into your bath, we’d suggest using a soap or shower gel infused with lavender oil.
Better yet, sprinkle some luxurious natural bath salts infused with aromatic lavender oil into the tub and take some mindful moments.
Discover our full collection of vegan skin, body and hair care products at UpCircle, where we upcycle ingredients that would otherwise go to water to give them a new lease of life.