Lavender has been a mainstay of the essential oil and perfumery cosmos for eons and its chronicle can be followed back beyond the Royal Families of Egypt and the philosophers of Ancient Greece. Looking around the shelves of any high street storehouse it can be noticed in plenty - perfuming talcs, soaps, shampoos, air freshners, and a million an one varying products. So this oil has a distinct rank on the shelves of whatever oil devotee or aromatherapy practitioner! The Oil Basics Lavender oil is an essential oil acquired by distillate from the bloom spikes of certain species of lavender. Two kinds are distinguished, lavender flower oil, a clear oil, insoluble in water, having a concentration of 0.885 g/mL; and lavender spike oil, a distillation from the herb Lavandula latifolia, having concentration 0.905 g/mL. When purchasing Lavender watch to see which you are receiving - Lavender Essential Oil or Lavender Spike Essential Oil - both are top-notch but loan themselves to more or less diverse usage (See below) The Spike Oil has a somewhat sharper fragrance, with a top hot note which is absent from the Lavender Flower Oil and bestows itself more to the stimulation effects of the oil. Orthodox Aromatherapy Recommended Usages You only need to search on the shelves in Boots, Marks and Spencers and The Body Shop to see a wealth of advised uses for the Lavender fragrance, but traditionally it has been its tranquilizing and relaxing, as well as its ability to cut down stress and anxiousness, tones which have been held as its best use. One or two drops on an oil burner can create a quietening effect within a room. One or two drops on a tissue which is then put under the pillow can aid a relaxing nights slumber Put a couple of drops into the final launder or your laundry to give oyur wash a fresh natural and clean scent Put a couple of drops of the Lavender Oil into a carrier oil and blend. Then add a few drops to your bathwater and savor an indulgant slumberous soak. A few drops on a cloth which is then put in your vaccuum bags will serve odourise the room whils toyu do the housekeeping. When studying add four or five drops to an oil burner to stimulate and refresh the mind and increase alertness!