When building an essential oil collection, after peppermint I would recommend lavender. You have likely heard that lavender is great for relaxing and improving sleep, but here is a full list of the top properties of lavender essential oil:

• Sedative
• Astringent
• Antihistamine
• Cytophylactic
• Antispasmodic
• Antidepressant
• Analgesic
• Hypotensive
• Nervine
• Relaxing
• Soothing
• Antibacterial
• Regenerative
• Cardiotonic

I do not know what half those properties mean 🥴 but here are the ways I incorporate lavender essential oil into my daily routine:

Bedtime Ritual

Every night, I diffuse 8-10 drops of lavender essential oil in the diffuser on my bedside table. I also put a few drops of lavender essential oil on my pillow. It brings me a sense of peace and enables me to forget my to do list or anything that may have stressed me out during my day. (Note: Lavender is said help prevent teeth grinding, a nighttime no no I once struggled with but no longer do.)

Neck Pain

So many of us suffer from neck pain and a big cause of my neck pain is tense shoulders. I keep a bottle of lavender essential oil at my desk and if I know I’m going to be writing for several hours I will massage a few drops of lavender into my neck and my trapezius muscles.

Skincare and Haircare

I love adding essential oils to my beauty products. Lavender is said to soothe and promote healing for sunburns, burns, scars, cuts, minor wounds and blisters. If I get too much sun from a long tennis match or walk on the beach, I will add lavender essential oil to my moisturizer and massage it into my sunburn. And, as for haircare, I make it a point to not get artificially scented shampoos but I do like for my hair to smell good so I add a few drops of lavender to a half dollar size portion of my shampoo and massage it into my scalp. It feels good to take my time with washing my hair, as opposed to rushing through a perfectly good self-care opportunity.

Laundry

For the same reason I do not buy artificially scented shampoos, I do not buy artificially scented detergents. But with three girls playing soccer, a CrossFit husband and my Wednesday hot yoga class (a shout out to Jiva Yoga Center), sometimes our clothes need a little extra love. You can either add lavender to your non-scented liquid detergent or put a few drops directly on the clothes before starting the dry cycle.

—Becca Edwards, founder of Female IQ