One of the most popular questions I get asked all of the time is which oils should I take when I travel? My answer to that? Lavender!!! Without a doubt it is the one oil that I recommend you have on hand,especially when traveling. It can get you out of a lot of sticky situations. This past weekend, I got to know lavender pretty well as we went on our annual family mini vacay to the beach. I usually take all of my oils, but this trip, I only brought along lavender, frankincense, and On Guard. About halfway into the drive, my daughter starts complaining about her tummy feeling funny, and then she tells me that she thinks that she got stung by a wasp. I check her belly, and sure enough, there was about a quarter sized spot on her stomach that clearly had a wasp stinger in the center. Shes never been stung by a wasp before and tends to have allergic reaction to insects that have never bitten or stung her before(she had been messing with the stung area, thus spreading the venom). By the time we get to our hotel, she is extremely lightheaded and short of breath. I dont have a pair of tweezers(another thing that I recommend always having on hand). I turn to Google for answers...lol, and find out that you can remove a stinger by using a credit card(who knew?). WE get the stinger removed amidst screams and yells and a couple of accidental punches to my face(who knew removing a stinger could be so violent?). That sucker was about a quarter of an inch long. I immediately apply lavender to the affected area and the area almost immediately drops from about a half dollar size to about the size of a dime. The puffiness reduces.Not only does the lavender do all of this, it also produced a calming affect.
Fast forward about a day. We all decide to spend a very long day at the beach. I made sure we were all sunblocked up, but I learned something new this weekend. water Resistant does not mean the same thing as waterproof. They are very different. Not knowing this, I failed to reapply as often as I should of, and my entire family got burned pretty badly......... myself and my daughter the worst. I have heard that lavender is great for sunburn,but had never used it for that before. My immediate thought was to use the aloe/ after suncare lotions that we always use(its been a few years since we have had any kind of sunburn this bad). Guess what. THEY DIDN'T WORK. Frustrated I finally decided to give lavender a try(I was trying to hold back on it because I was low in supply), It worked almost IMMEDIATELY. The picture you see above are the blisters after treatment. I applied only once this morning, and she is about 80% better! I should also mention that I used this in conjunction with aloe plant.
So this weekend I guess you could say lavender and myself got to know each other extremely well this weekend. Up until now I had only used it for its restful and relaxation properties. This weekend it showed me that it was soo much more than that. Its a soother as well, not only mentally, but physically. I think I will keep it around =)
