Have a bunch of lavender from your garden, local farmer’s market, or a trip to a lavender farm, but not sure what to do with it?
Here are 10useful and pretty things that you can make with lavender so you can continue to enjoy it for months to come!
I’ve also included a FREE Lavender “Cheat Sheet” down below, as a helpful reference you can use when growing, harvesting, and making lavender goodies!
If you don’t have lavender available locally, no problem!
You can purchase organicdried lavender from Mountain Rose Herbswhich will work perfectly in every one of these recipes.
A few notes before we begin:
1. Some of these projects require dried lavender.To dry flowers and herbs, I usually just spread them out in single layers on paper towels or clean dish towels and let them air dry for several days. You could also tie your lavender in small bundles and hang them up until dry.
2. The free printable cheat sheet can be found by scrolling down further in this article. (No signup required – just grab, go, and feel free to share with others!)
3. There are a few affiliate links scattered in this post. That means if you click on one and make a purchase, I earn a small commission for sending a customer their way. I only recommend products I’ve personally purchased and had success with.
4. If you’re interested in growing your own beautiful lavender plants, check out this article: Growing & Harvesting Lavender at our family site, Unruly Gardening.
1. Lavender Infused Oil
This lavender infused oil can bemassagedonto restless legs, dabbed on itchy bug bites, rubbed into flaky scalps and used as an ingredient in recipes for salves, lotions, creams, soaps and such. Shelf life of strained, infused oil is around 9 months to a year.
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To make it,fill a canning jarabout half-way up with dried lavenderflowers.(Optional extra step: Add a splash, abt 1/4 tsp, high proof vodka and toss with the dried flowers to help extract extra beneficial compounds.) Cover the flowers with about twice as much as your favorite carrier oil, or to the top of the jar.Suggested oils include sunflower,olive, sweet almond, apricot kernel, avocado, or whatever your favorite oil may be.
For a quick infusion:Set the uncovered jar down into a small saucepan filled with a few inches of water. Heat over a low burner for a few hours, keeping a close eye that the water doesn’t evaporate out.Remove from heat and strain.
For a slower, more traditional infusion:Cap the jar of lavenderand oil and tuck away in a cabinet for around 4 to 6 weeks, shaking occasionally as you remember to. When the infusing time has passed, strain.
2. Lavender Salve
This recipe uses the infused oil we made above. It’s great forrubbing on itchy bug bites, minor scrapes, restless legs, tired muscles, and to massage on thetemples and back of the neck when you have a headache. It’salso skin conditioning so will help any little dry skin spots youmight have.
Ingredients needed:
- 4 ounces (114 grams) lavender infused oil
- 0.65 ounces (18 grams)beeswax
- 14 to 27 dropslavender essential oil(use the lower amount for a light scent and 0.5% dilution rate, or up to the higher amount for a stronger scent and 1% dilution rate)
(For a vegan option – try using roughly half as much candelilla wax instead of beeswax.)
Full directions to make this salve can be found in my article:
Lavender Salve Recipe
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3. Lavender Lotion Bars
Lotion bars are the best thing ever for dry, cracked skin. They’re easy to throw together and make wonderful gifts too!
To make lavender lotion bars, you’ll need:
- 1/4 cup (52 g) lavenderinfused oil
- 1/4 cup (28 g) beeswax
- 1/4 cup (44 g) shea, mango or cocoa butter
- lavender essential oil
Find the full recipe over in my article:
Lavender Lotion Bars
4. Lavender Face Cream with Lilacs & Violets
This lavender face cream is thick and rich, making it perfect for dry or mature skin.
The ingredients needed:
- dried or fresh violets, lilacs and/or lavender
- distilled water
- 2.5 ounces sweet almond oil
- 0.5 ounce jojoba oil (a bit over a tablespoon)
- 1.5 ounces mango butter (or shea butter)
- 0.5 ounce beeswax pastilles
- 2 tablespoons stearic acid (natural thickening agent)
- lavender essential oil
- preservative (see *recipe note)
You can find the full directions to make it in my article .
Interested in learning more about making beautiful, natural handmade lotions & creams?
I have just the thing for you! My is loaded with helpful information and recipes.
5. Whipped LavenderHand Cream & Body Butter
This luxurious hand and body butter is made with lavender infused oil and shea butter. The pretty natural colorcomes from adding a pinch of purple Brazilian clay.
Ingredients needed:
- 7 oz (198 g) shea butter
- 2 1/2 oz (70 g) lavender infused sunflower oil (directions in #1 above)
- 2 1/2 tsp arrowroot powder
- 1/2 tsp purple Brazilian clay
- 30 drops lavender essential oil
- a few drops of ylang ylang or litsea essential oil (optional)
You can .
6. Lavender Honey Sugar Scrub
This scrub exfoliates your skin, leaving it soft, silky and smooth.It’s especially wonderful to use on your feet, elbows and knees.
Ingredients needed:
- a scant 1/2cup cane sugar
- 1 to 2 tablespoons (more or less) lavender-infused oil
- 1 teaspoon honey
- a few drops of lavender essential oil.
You can find the full directions for making it in my article, Lavender Honey Sugar Scrub.
7. Lavender Soap
This is a lovely, old-fashioned soap that’s made with lavender tea and scented with lavender essential oil.
It’s naturally colored purple with Brazilian clay, but you could leave that out for an off-white bar instead.
Homemade lavender soap directions are here on my site.
8. Lavender Tincture
According to Richo Cech in one of my all-time favorite books, Making Plant Medicine, someuses for lavender tincture include rubbing on your temples for headache or insomnia, applying directly to your scalp and brushes/combs to discourage lice, and diluted with water (30 drops in a 1/2 cup of water) to treat skin sores and infections.
It’s also great applied to bee stings and bug bites! There are some internal uses as well – for things like insomnia or anxiety.
For directions to make, visit my article:
Lavender Tincture + Uses
9. Lavender Bath Salts
Theselavender bath saltsare incredibly easy to make. Pour them into a glass jar, tie a tag on with a pretty ribbon and you have a quick last-minute gift idea!
Ingredients needed:
- 1 cup Epsom salt
- 1/4 cup sea salt (or more Epsom salt)
- 1/4 cup dried lavender flowers
- a few drops of lavender essential oil.
To make lavender bath salts:
Combine and store in a tightly closed glass jar.
To use, pour the bath salts into a cotton muslin bag (like THESE) or an old clean sock. Tie up tightly and toss in the tub as it fills with warm water.
You can use the full batch for one bath or split it between two baths, depending on personal preference. These bath salts will stay fresh and usable foraround 6 to 9 months, or until the color of the flowers fade.
10. Lavender Vinegar
This beautiful lavender flower-infused vinegar can be used as a fabric softener, flea spray, hair rinse, glass cleaner and bath addition.
You only need two ingredients to make it:
- lavender flowers
- vinegar
Visit the article on my site to learnHow to Make Lavender Vinegar + 5 uses for it.
Free Lavender Printable “Cheat Sheet”
This free printable is all about lavender and highlights tips for growing and its benefits, plus has several of my favorite recipes on it.
Just click on the thumbnail photo of the printable above and it will open a PDF that you can print and/or download.
Feel free to share with friends and other lavender lovers! :)
(Like these printables? I send free printables to my newsletter subscribers all the time! Join us!)
Jan
author, herbalist, soapmaker
Jan Berry is a writer, herbalist, soapmaker, and bestselling author of The Big Book of Homemade Products, Simple & Natural Soapmaking, and Easy Homemade Melt & Pour Soaps. She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains with her family and a menagerie of animals, where she enjoys brainstorming creative things to make with the flowers and weeds that grow around her. You can also find her writing about gardening and foraging over at her family's website: UnrulyGardening.com!
You have so many ingenius uses for lavender you make me wish that lavender grew more vigorously so I could enjoy it more in zone 3.
If I lived in zone 5 I’d have a lavender hedge. I love it.
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Hi Chris, A lavender hedge would be a lovely thing to have! Happy that you liked the ideas! :)
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If you get the variety called munstead it will come back in zone 3.
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Could you do one where it’s what to make with lavender OIL?
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That’s a great idea John, thanks for sharing!
Are you thinking about homemade lavender infused oil, or lavender essential oil?
Both ideas are great – I will have to add those to my list of articles I’d like to write – thanks!Reply
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I want to make the lavender cream. I’m curious. Why include arrowroot in this product?
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Hi Deborah! The arrowroot is completely optional. Some people like to add it – or another starch powder, such as tapioca or cornstarch – to help cut some of the greasy feel that body butters can sometimes leave behind. You can leave it out though if you don’t have any on hand. :)
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What a great list! I just had to prune about 50 Provence lavender plants for work (I’m a gardener) and hauled home all the cuttings. I was wondering what I was going to do with them!
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Wow! What a wonderful thing to happen! I hope you have lots of fun making lovely lavender goodies! :)
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Can I use the lavender leaves/needles as well for the infused oil?
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Hi Melissa! The flowers are the part of the plant mainly used for herbal/medicinal purposes, but you can definitely include some leaves in your infusion as well. I think they have a wonderful scent too & try to incorporate them in various products when I can. :)
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Do you know how to make a lavender sachet, or anything like that, for gifts?
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Hi June! This is a lovely lavender sachet tutorial you may enjoy: http://livesimply.me/2015/02/25/diy-lavender-sachets/ :)
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Hi There,
Thank you so much for all of the time that goes into helping others. I am curious what colour the lavender infused oil will be at the end.. Would it colour my soap at all? Pinkish or purple.
Thank you!Reply
Hi Carrie! The lavender infused oil will not offer much, if any, color to soap. Lavender tea, used in place of water, can sometimes color your soap tan or light brown if it’s very strong, but otherwise – sadly no color remains from lavender.
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can you buy infused lavender oil? if so, where would be the best place to buy it. I would love to make the lotion bar but I have no lavender at this time growing .
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Hi Lorrie! You might be able to find some on Etsy: :)
https://www.etsy.com/search?ref=tab_search&q=lavender+infused+oilReply
I’m so excited to make some of these lovely things! I just started growing lavender from seeds. My yard also has roses and violets.
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Hi Phyl, Hooray! So happy to hear you’re excited to make things with your lavender, roses & violets! Those are three of my favorite plants to make things with too! :)
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what can i make from lavender here in zambia.
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Hi Nikatya! I’m unsure if there is a different type of lavender that grows in Zambia than we have here, but if your lavender is edible or nontoxic, then you may be able to use it in some of the above lavender projects. :)
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I love these recipes! My mom and I love to plan out our gardening in the winter and we usually come up with some fun ideas for selling some of our stuff, and I will definitely try some of your recipes for the lavender that I grow! Thanks for the fun ideas!
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Hi Kayden, I’m so happy to hear you like the lavender ideas & hope you enjoy the recipes! We’re already happily planning for next year’s garden too! ?
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Hello, I need a bunch of help I just can’t seem to find anyone to help out. I have pure French Lavender oil not essential oil (yet lol) and Almond carrier oil. I haven’t found a good recipe on the ratio to make essenial oil and reading all your recipes above what measurement to use it in all your wonderful Lavender recipes. Thank you for any help in advance!
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Hi TinaMarie! Lavender essential oil is made when you steam distill fresh lavender flowers – it takes a LOT of plant material to make a few drops of essential oil, so it’s not easy to make at home.
It sounds like maybe you have an infused oil and want to turn it into essential oil?
Unfortunately, that’s not possible, since they are two different things.
Infused oil is made when you take some dried lavender and pour oil over it (about twice as much oil as flowers), then you let it sit to infuse until all of the oil-soluble benefits from the lavender is transferred into the oil.
Once you have infused oil, you can you it to make salves, balms, lip balm, lotion bars, soap, and all sorts of goodies!
Infused oil isn’t very strong, so you can use large amounts in your projects.
Essential oils are very concentrated compounds from a plant so we use only small amounts, and dilute them well with oil to keep from irritating our skin.
I hope that helps explain how different they are, but let me know if I misunderstood your question or if there’s any other way I can help! ❤Reply
How many lavender lotion bars does your recipe above yield? For say a 3” mold?
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Hi Kim! It depends on the depth and other dimensions of the mold as well, so I often go by how many ounces each mold cavity holds if that information is available.
If using 1/4 cup of each ingredient (butter, beeswax, oil), it should make roughly three 1 1/2 ounce bars.
Since mold shapes vary so much, we kind of have to guesstimate the first time we use a particular mold, so I always have an extra one on hand, just in case I end up with leftover melted mixture. :)Reply
What amount of Leucidal SF Complete do you recommend for the sugar scrub?
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Hi Aquila! I personally use Phytocide Elderberry OS in scrubs, instead of Leucidal SF Complete.
The Phytocide is oil soluble and mixes into the oil portion of scrubs very nicely.
More info in this article:
https://thenerdyfarmwife.com/natural-preservatives-for-skin-care/
but the usage rate is 1 to 5%.
The scrub is about 1/2 cup (120 ml).
5% of 120 ml = 6 ml.
There’s 5 ml in one teaspoon, so you could safely add up to 1 tsp Phytocide elderberry to the oils portion of the scrub.
(I would personally use 1/2 teaspoon in the oils if making for myself though.)Reply
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