DIY Lavender Oil

Is there any flower more fragrant than lavender through the years?  The scent of lavender is lovely and enduring.  So I set out to make my own lavender oil.

Thrifty Thinking

DIY Time

It’s DIY Time again, where every week I try to post something you can do yourself rather than buy, which is a money saver, and can be VERY REWARDING.  Some of these posts are crafts, sewing projects, homemade cleaners, homemade health aids, tutorials, and the like.

Sometimes before I dive into a project, I read about it several times, trying to figure things out.  I’ll tuck the idea away in my head and come back several months later, and then read about it again.  That’s what happened in this case.  I was originally looking for a tutorial on how to make lavender essential oil because I use it in my homemade deodorant and wanted to try making some.  I’ve since learned that you have to have access to some kind of steam distillation essential oil extractor since lavender essential oil is purely lavender, and the process is a bit complex for the average Joe.  Since I wasn’t ready to commit over $100 to this project yet, I thought I would try making simple lavender infused oil, which is just the lavender paired with an oil, called a carrier oil.

Lavender infused oil makes a great gift.  Lavender oil is great to use as massage oil, scenting your bath, as a moisturizer for your hair, and even repelling insects.  I’ve also read you can use it in soap making.  Lavender is great at helping reduce anxiety and helps to bring a sense of calm.

It is so easy to make lavender oil.  It only requires two ingredients, shears, a container, some cheesecloth, and some time.

What You Will Need:

• access to lots of fresh lavender buds (enough to fill your choice container 2-3 times.  On the first day, only gather enough lavender buds to fill your container once)
• shears to cut your lavender
• glass jar/container with a lid
• light olive oil/or some kind of carrier oil of your choice
• cheesecloth

As an aside, the first time I infused the oil and lavender together, I used the non-woody stems and leaves as well as the flower buds since they all have a scent (& that’s what they did on one of the tutorials I read).  I did not like how I couldn’t squeeze any of the oil out of the stems and leaves, and because of this I am now only using the flower buds and no stems.

Let the lavender oil sit for a period of time in a warm area that’s out of direct sunlight.  You decide how long it will sit.  The longer the lavender oil sits, the more scented your oil will be.  The first time I did this, I let it sit for three days.   Shake it daily.

Gather more buds.  Fill your container with newly cut lavender buds again, and pour the leftover oil from the first infusion into your container again.  You will most likely need to cover your buds with a little new oil since you lose some oil in the process.  The second time I let the lavender oil sit, I let it go for a week.

Repeat the process again if you need to in order to get the desired strength of lavender scent.  I did the entire process three times, and the last time I let the oil sit for almost three weeks (since I was tackling other things, and I am glad I left it for awhile because after the third sitting the scent was wonderful).  The oil is ready when the lavender scent dominates.

Enjoy the aroma!

Have you made…?

• Lavender Sachets

• Scented Lavender Wand Tutorial

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• Baby Wipes Solution
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Sonja

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