Make Your Own Lavender Infused Medicinal Oil

"An age-old remedy for calming and soothing the nerves, improving mood and relaxing muscles, beautifully scented lavender and its essential oil are commonly used for inducing a restful sleep, relieving depression and anxiety and for other disorders relating to a nervous or tense state..."

~ Reader's Digest, The Complete Illustrated Book of Herbs

If you have lots of lavender, something useful, easy and fun to make is a medicinal oil. You can rub it into tense shoulders to relax those taxed nerves. You can massage it onto tired feet to sooth the "soul" after a long day. It makes a lovely moisturizing body oil after a warm bath. In fact, this lavender infused oil can also be used as a base for making handmade lotions, lotion bars, creams, balms and salves.



Not only is the scent intoxicating, lavender is also very calming, stress-relieving, mood enhancing, is antibacterial, anti-fungal, an antiseptic, disinfectant, antispasmodic, pain reliever, burn healer and more. The Almighty packed a lot of healing power into lavender making it my all time favorite plant, herb and flower! 

To prepare your medicinal oil, simply gather your lavender flowers (fresh or dried, make some or buy some). If using fresh flowers, fresh-wilt them first as shared below and place them in a clean jar. Cover flowers by at least 1-2 inches with olive oil (or coconut oil would be divine) and screw lid on firmly. These oils were chosen for their longer shelf life and medicinal properties. Let the mixture steep in a sunny spot for 2 - 3 weeks. This is called a solar infusion.

"When I make oils from fresh herbs, before adding the herbs to the oil, I usually freshwilt them: I place them on a basket or screen in a single layer, in a warm area out of direct sunlight, and let them wilt for several hours. They’re ready when they look limp. Fresh wilting allows some of the moisture to evaporate, so there’s less chance of spoilage."

~ Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner's Guide 

When the time is up, strain the solids through a fine cheesecloth or a piece of thin cotton/muslin to remove all particles. Pour the finished product into a clean, dry jar or bottle (we just reused the brown glass bottle the olive oil came in) and label with the date. Store oil in a cool, dark area (like your pantry) for up to 12 months (or until oil seems "off").

Note: If you notice condensation on the inside of your lid, wipe with a clean and dry cloth immediately (your herbs may have had too much moisture in them when preparing this).

To make this infusion double strength, add another batch of lavender flowers to your finished oil and repeat the process one more time. Or, you can simply add 10 drops of lavender essential oil to every cup of your infused oil to give it a stronger potency (and a longer shelf life).

You may also be interested in What to Make and Do with All Your Lovely Lavender. For other herbal inspired projects, check out Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner's Guide which has been a wonderful resource for our family.

Our lavender label is shared above if you would like to use it. Simply right click on the image and save. You may also like to print a copy of this recipe to place in your herbal. You will find it HERE!

This post may be shared with some or all of the following link-ups: The Art of Home-Making Mondays, Modest Mom Monday's, Monday's Musings, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Good Morning Mondays,  The Scoop, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Tuesdays with a Twist, Raising Homemakers, Wise Woman Link Up, Homestead Blog Hop,  Wow Us Wednesdays,  Coffee and Conversation, Homemaking Thursdays, Home Sweet Home, Our Simple Homestead, From the Farm Blog Hop, Front Porch Friday Blog Hop, Awesome Life Friday Link Up, Five Star Frou Frou Friday, Shabbilicious Friday, Simply Natural Saturdays and Clever Chicks Blog Hop. Thank you lovely ladies for hosting these.  Lavender clip art was found here.