Lavender essential oil is used for chapped lips, chapped hands, and can be used as bug repellent. It is also used to get rid of ringworm, minor cuts, sore muscles, and acne.
Among the oldest essential oils in use today, lavender oil is preferred for its many uses. The originators of this oil were the Egyptians, who used it for mummification. The Romans too used it regularly, often to add perfume to their baths. Besides, they used it as insect repellents and to flavor their food and drinks.
Over the ages, this essential oil has continued to keep its popularity, not merely for its fragrance. Lavender oil has medicinal properties, as people have discovered. In fact, it can even stimulate blood flow to the area where it is topically applied, encouraging healing in cases of burns and stings.
Is Lavender oil safe for kids?
Known as Lavandula angustifolia, it is the most resourceful amongst essential oils. It is known to have a relaxing and calming effect on the body and works wonders on the skin. It’s also a great pick-me-up. If your child has any of the below problems and is aged under two years, you can safely give him one drop for every four teaspoons of carrier oil. The oil should never be ingested, only topically applied or inhaled through means of aromatherapy or similar activities.
Benefits: Here are the many benefits of lavender essential oil for kids:
7 Health Benefits of Lavender Essential Oil for Kids
Chapped lips
If you notice that your child has chapped lips, apply lavender oil to moisturize and soothe them. However, do a patch test before dabbing it all over his body. And, to use on his lips, you need to be sure that the lavender you use is good enough to ingest.
Chapped hands
In winters, if your child has chapped hands, you can get rid of it by applying a little lavender oil on his skin. Not only will this soothe his skin but it will also moisturize it. Besides, if he has any small cuts or wounds, they can heal faster with this essential oil.
Bug repellent and bites
Bugs like moths, mosquitoes and midges are naturally repelled by the smell of lavender oil, so it helps to take advantage of this and use it to stave them off. Lavender oil’s anti-inflammatory properties can minimize the irritation and pain that bug bites give. It also kills germs and promote faster healing of the bug bite.
If your child has been stung by a bee, lavender oil will soothe the sting and placate the nerves around the sting, which will bring down your child’s discomfort without toxicity. For best results, apply some of the oil on the bite or sting and if using it as a preventive, apply it all over your child’s body.
Ringworm
Lavender’s inherent antiseptic and anti-fungal properties helps get rid of ringworm patches in children within just three or four days.
Read More: Ringworm in Kids: Symptoms, Causes and Natural Treatments
Minor cuts
Lavender oil’s antiseptic property helps kill bacteria that collect around wounds and do not let cuts heal naturally. By using lavender oil for small cuts, they will heal well, faster and naturally too.
Read more: 11 Amazing Benefits of Essential Oils for Kids
Sore muscles
If your kid’s been doing some rough play, he’s sure to come home complaining of sore muscles and the pain of them. By dabbing the affected areas with a few drops of this oil, you can take the soreness away and replace it with a relaxed feeling, comfort and peace. This kind of special attention you extend to your child can build their self-confidence and help them grow into strong individuals.
Acne
Lavender oil is one of the best essential oils to treat acne, say aroma therapists and dermatologists. Children get pimples from puberty, which can be both ugly and embarrassing. Identified by red elevated sores on the face, neck and chest, it develops as a result of bacterial infection close to the sebum gland. Since extra sebum is built up during puberty and bacteria are dependent on it, a cycle of inflammation, infection and resultant sores develops which end up in bad scars.
Lavender essential oil prevents the bacteria causing infection to develop, and normalizes some extra excretion of sebum by manipulating the hormones and so reduces the signs of scarring once the acne heals. Dabbing lavender essential oil and other medicated creams to the acne spots can vastly help with healing and bringing pain relief to the sufferer.
Read More: Home Remedies for Treating Baby Acne Quickly and Naturally
Conclusion
Essential oils, though very useful in treating a vast array of illnesses, should be used sparingly on children. Parents should take the advice of aroma therapists on the right dosage of these essential oils, bearing in mind the child’s age and any other individual symptoms such as respiratory disorder, allergies or ailments.
Resources:
https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-7769/13-uses-for-lavender-oil-the-only-essential-oil-youll-need.html
