Lavender is my #1 favorite essential oil. It is the mother of oils and has so many different therapeutic properties. It is calming, balancing, skin-healing, antiseptic, antispasmodic, among others.
But there was a moment when lavender almost fell out of favor. As I wrote in my LMT blog in 2013, it was thought that lavender essential oil mimicked estrogen or enhanced the body’s own estrogen production. In short, lavender was deemed a “hormone disruptor.” In 2007 a study showed some estrogenic activity, and — despite several rebuttals — this had been the common thought since then.
But a 2013 study finally put this thinking to rest. Lavender is not estrogenic, even at 5,000 times greater the normal expected exposure. We can use lavender without fear of gynecomastia! (You were wondering about that, right?)
So breathe it in and let your skin and body enjoy all of the therapeutic properties of the wonder that is lavender!
