5 Homemade Lavender Products
Croatia is one of the largest producers of lavender, which is one of the most popular Croatian souvenirs. It mostly grows on the rocky hills of Dalmatian island of Hvar and it is known for the highest quality among all sorts of lavender grown throughout Europe. You can buy numerous eco-lavender products when visiting the island of Hvar, but they can be found almost everywhere in Croatia. If you have lavender plants at home, you can use some of these simple recipes to prepare homemade body care products as lavender is a plant with numerous beneficial properties. So here are 5 recipes for preparing special homemade lavender products.
Lavender essential oil
It is one of the most useful and beneficial essential oils. Lavender oil is not hard to make and you can use it for preparing different body care products, vaporize it for fragrance, for alleviating allergy symptoms and much, much more. So follow these 4 easy steps for preparing your own lavender essential oil:
- Put your fresh lavender flowers in the open container and let them dry in the sun for a few hours. When the flowers are dry, crush them gently with a mortar. Do not crush them too much because they can lose the essence.
- You will need 3 glasses of almond oil for a glass of lavender flowers. You can use olive oil if you don’t have the almond oil, but the lavender aroma won’t be intense as in almond oil.
- Heat the almond oil over a low heat and add dried lavender flowers. Maintain low heat and let the mixture simmer for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Let it cool and strain out all the flowers, put the oil in a glass container with a lid, and store it in a dark place. Add some drops of Vitamin E to extend the expiration date.
Lavender Body Butter
Lavender boy butter is perfect for all skin types. It is great as a night cream, you can use it for dry skin, as a relaxing body butter adding more drops of lavender essential oil or for the itchy and irritated skin.
- 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
- 2 tablespoon of almond oil
- 1/2 cup of cocoa butter
- 2 teaspoons Honey
- 1 tablespoon of Aloe Vera gel
- 2 tablespoons of grated beeswax
- Vitamin E
- 8 drops of lavender essential oil
- In a double boiler combine all the ingredients except Vitamin E and essential oil.
- Bring to medium heat and stir until the mixture melts.
- Add lavender essential oil and a few drops of Vitamin E and stir well.
- Pour it into a glass container and let it cool completely before you cover it.
Lavender Soap without caustic soda
- 5 liters of water
- 2 lb (1 kg) of ashes
- 1 liter of olive oil
- 0.15 lb (70 gr) starch (rice)
- 30 drops of lavender oil
- First, you will need to make lye water from wood ashes and water. Pu water and the ashes into a pot, cook the mixture over a low heat for about 2 hours.
- Place a cloth over a bucket and pour the lye water.
- In another pot pour the oil and bring to a temperature of about 30°C (86°F).
- In a bucket leave about half a liter of lye water to which you add the starch. Pour the remaining lye water into the olive oil.
- Stir well and add the remaining lye with the starch. Add a drop of lavender essential oil and continue stirring for a few minutes.
- Add some dried lavender flowers on the bottom of the mold, put the soap into a mold and leave it in a dry place for about two weeks.
Lavender Shampoo
- 1 cup organic Castile liquid soap
- 1 tablespoon of almond or coconut oil
- 3 teaspoons of honey
- 4 tablespoons of almond milk
- Vitamin E
- 30 drops of lavender oil (you can add 10 drops of other essential oil if you like Peppermint oil)
- In a bowl, mix honey, almond milk, coconut oil and a 1/2 cup of castile soap and stir.
- Add a few drops of Vitamin E, lavender oil and the rest of castile soap. Stir well.
- Pour the shampoo into a glass bottle, put the lid on and shake well.
Lavender Lip Balm
If you have problems with chapped and dry lips, lavender lip balm is a perfect solution. It is easy to make and all you will need are a few simple ingredients. Instead of coconut oil, you can use other types of oils like olive oil, almond oil or peppermint oil.
- 1 teaspoon of coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon of cocoa butter
- 1 teaspoon of shea butter
- grated beeswax
- Vitamin E
- 8 drops of lavender essential oil
- Mix coconut oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, 1 teaspoon of grated beeswax and a few drops of Vitamin E. Heat it gently until the mixture melts.
- Add 8 drops of lavender oil and stir well.
- Pour into a small container and let it become solid and voila, your perfect homemade lip balm.
