How to Make Homemade Lavender Oil: Easy Step-by-Step Guide
Come learn how to make lavender oil with our simple step-by-step recipe. It’s exceptionally easy to make soothing, heavenly-scented homemade lavender oil. All you need is oil, dry lavender flowers, and a little time! While not as concentrated as pure essential oils, there are many wonderful ways to use lavender infused oil for natural skincare, culinary creations, and more.
This guide also includes 10 ways to use homemade lavender oil and it’s amazing benefits. We’ve been making our own lavender oil for nearly 10 years, so I have plenty of tips on how to make the most luxurious and nourishing oil possible!
Note: This post was originally published in July 2020 but significantly updated.
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Lavender Infused Oil vs Essential Oils
This guide will teach you how to make lavender oil by infusing dried lavender flowers in a nourishing carrier oil of choice (such as olive oil or sweet almond oil) for several weeks or longer. As the dry flowers soak and steep, the natural essential oils and other beneficial compounds found in lavender are drawn out and into the surrounding oil.
This kind of homemade lavender oil is different from concentrated lavender essential oils, which are made through a distillation extraction process rather than infusion. While there are some home and hobby-size stills available, distillation is most often done on a large industrial scale. Furthermore, it takes a huge amount of fresh lavender flowers to produce a tiny amount of oil!
In contrast, the method we’re using in this tutorial can create a significant amount of lavender oil with far less flowers.
What kind of lavender can I use to make lavender oil?
The short answer is: any kind. I make lavender oil using a combination of several varieties that we grow in our garden. They all smell wonderful and have excellent anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and anti-anxiety properties. Using organically-grown lavender is preferred.
Rich in sweet-smelling essential oils, true English lavender varieties are the most esteemed for edible and medicinal applications. English lavender and hybrid lavandin varieties (L. x intermedia) taste the best, so stick with those if you are planning to make lavender oil for culinary use.
While technically edible, Spanish and French lavender tend to taste more herbaceous or bitter due to their higher camphor content. However, camphor is excellent at easing swelling, itching, and pain!
Supplies Needed
- Dried lavender flowers or buds, enough to fill your chosen jar or container at least two-thirds full. You can use homegrown or store-bought dried lavender, as long as it’s 100% dry. If the flowers are not fully dry, the leftover moisture can cause the lavender oil to grow mold or spoil! Using dry flowers also helps to extract the maximum essential oils possible. See four ways to dry fresh herbs here.
- Carrier oil of choice – such as olive oil, sweet almond oil, or jojoba oil. You’ll need about the same volume of oil as the size container you select. See more information about choosing the best carrier oil below.
- A glass jar or other container with a lid. I used a modest ½ pint jar for this example, which would be great if you only need a small amount – such as to fill a few rollers to use the lavender oil straight. Yet if you intend to make lavender salve or other homemade body care products, I recommend using at least a pint jar or more.
- A fine mesh strainer, sieve, and/or organic cheesecloth
- Optional: organic lavender essential oil
EXPERT TIP: To create the most therapeutic and aromatic lavender oil, it’s important to harvest young and fresh flowers instead of using older, fading buds – which have much lower essential oil content. The flowers should also be air-dried or dehydrated on very low heat to preserve the maximum beneficial compounds. Learn how to harvest and dry fresh lavender flowers here.
Best Carrier Oils to Make Lavender Oil
Popular carrier oils used to make lavender oil include extra virgin olive oil, sweet almond oil, grapeseed oil, coconut oil, argan oil, and more. Organic jojoba oil is my personal favorite, especially for my face! We also sometimes blend two types of oils, such as almond and jojoba oil.
If you’d like to make lavender oil for culinary use, be sure to use an edible carrier oil. If you want homemade lavender oil for topical use, choose a carrier oil that’s compatible and beneficial for your skin type (e.g. consider comedogenic ratings).
No matter what you choose, I highly suggest using a high-quality, unrefined, cold-pressed oil. Certified organic is all the better. The goal is to create a healing medicinal oil after all!
LEARN MORE: Visit our guide on the best 11 Carrier Oil Options for Skin Care, Salves and Infusions to learn more about the unique benefits and properties of each.
Instructions
1) Infuse and Wait
- Fill a glass container at least three-quarters full of dried lavender flowers or buds.
- Pour your carrier oil of choice over the dry lavender, filling the container enough so that all the flowers can be fully submerged and move freely in the oil. Add a tight-fitting lid.
- Place the jar in a moderately warm location, such as near a sunny window, inside a warm cabinet, or on top of a warm appliance. While some herbalists may have a preference, it doesn’t make much of a difference if the jar is stored in the dark or light – but a little warmth does help it infuse better!
- Allow the lavender oil to to infuse for at least two weeks* or up to 1 month (or longer) for the best results and maximum extraction possible.
- If possible, set the jar somewhere you’ll remember to stop by and gently shake it on occasion. Lavender tends to float in oil, so you’ll want to lightly turn and swirl the jar to keep things mixed up (this is most important during the first few days).
*I much prefer this slow, passive infusion process (since many therapeutic compounds and essential oils are destroyed by heat) but it’s also possible to gently heat lavender and oil on the stove to get same-day results. Learn more in this separate guide on how to make herb infused oil.
2) Strain
- When the time is up, strain the lavender flowers and reserve the oil.
- We do this by positioning a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl and pouring it all through. Let it sit to fully drip and drain for at least 15 minutes.
- I like to line our strainer with cheesecloth or a reusable nut milk bag for extra-fine filtration. That way, I can also wring out the cloth or bag of lavender to squeeze out every bit of oil possible.
- Finally, pour the strained oil into a clean jar for storage. (If you wash and re-use the same jar, be sure it’s fully dry before storing the oil in it!)
3) Add Lavender Essential Oil (Optional)
Our homemade lavender oil always has a very pleasant, noticeable-yet-mild lavender aroma. (It will never be as strong as the essential oils you may be accustomed to.) To give it extra oomph and aromatherapy benefits, we often add a few drops of our favorite organic lavender essential oil too.
The recommended safe dilution ratio for essential oils is about 2%, or up to 12 drops of essential oils per fluid ounce of carrier oil. Yet since the oil was already infused with whole lavender flowers, you can use far less here. I suggest adding just a few drops, gently stir, give it a sniff, and adjust as needed.
Storage and Shelf Life
Store the finished lavender oil in a clean glass container with a tight-fitting lid. Keep the container in a dry, cool, dark location. You can also store lavender oil in the refrigerator to extend its shelf life.
The shelf life of homemade lavender oil varies and depends on the type of carrier oil (check the bottle) and condition of flowers used. Some oils are more prone to becoming rancid faster than others. Most have an average shelf life of about 1 year. (Another reason I love jojoba oil: it’s good for up to 5 years!)
The Benefits of Lavender Oil
Lavender and calm go hand-in-hand. The soothing aroma of lavender is proven to help reduce anxiety, stress, depression, and insomnia, perfect for bedtime or when you’re feeling frazzled. The scent is also known to deter pest insects like mosquitoes and flies, making lavender oil a popular ingredient in many natural insect repellents.
Aromatherapy aside, lavender has powerful healing abilities when used topically. Scientific studies show that lavender is anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anti-fungal, an antioxidant, and has the ability to relieve pain. It can also help repair damaged skin tissue and heal wounds. This makes it awesome to heal rashes, bites, burns, acne, scrapes, eczema, stings, scars, and more.
You can see why lavender is incorporated into so many natural skin care products!
10 Ways to Use Lavender Infused Oil
- As a soothing facial moisturizer to help with redness, dry skin, acne, and more. A little goes a long way! You’ll only need a few drops.
- As an ingredient in other homemade skincare products. Many natural body care recipes call for oil, including our whipped body butter recipe, lotion, salve, soap, and more! Learn how to make our popular homemade lavender salve here. For more ideas, I highly recommend this organic body care recipe book.
- As a luxurious and calming massage oil to calm nerves, relieve muscle tension, pain, and inflammation.
- Other topical applications: You can use lavender oil directly on other parts of your body as a general moisturizer, on bug bites, sunburns, eczema, stings, rashes, scars, scrapes, and more!
- Add homemade lavender oil to essential oil rollers to apply on your neck, wrists, and temples as a soothing natural perfume or bedtime relaxant.
- As a hair treatment to condition hair, moisturize your scalp, and potentially thicken hair. Coconut oil, olive oil, and argan oil are especially popular for deep moisturizing hair treatments. Plus, this study showed that lavender can help stimulate hair growth! Simply apply an even coat of oil to your hair, massage it into your scalp, pin your hair up away from your clothes, and allow it to sit for anywhere from 15 minutes to a few hours. Then use shampoo as usual to wash away the oil.
- To remove makeup. Lavender oil makes a great natural makeup remover! Oil naturally draws out impurities, while the lavender soothes redness, inflammation, and targets acne. Avoid contact with sensitive areas around your eyes.
- In the kitchen. Lavender is especially popular to use in sweet and savory marinades, dressings, sauces, and baked goods. Have a recipe that calls for oil? Simply swap out all or part of your usual selection with lavender oil instead. Of course, ensure your carrier oil is edible (and tasty) before chowing down!
- In natural cleaning products. Homemade cleaning spray recipes often call for oils, to help make countertops or stainless steel surface shine! We often incorporate a little lavender oil to our favorite homemade vinegar and lemon cleaning spray. Here is a gentle DIY countertop recipe that utilizes essential oils, perfect for granite.
- Give it as a gift. Make a bigger batch and divvy it up into cute little bottles or jars to share with friends and family. Include a note or label to share the many ways to use it, or direct them here! See this list of my favorite 27+ DIY gift ideas, including mason jar gifts, food, sustainable crafts and more.
Easy peasy!
I hope this guide gave you plenty of ideas and inspiration to start making your own nourishing lavender oil at home. As you can see, it is quite easy to to do! If you enjoyed this article, please leave a review below. As always, thank you for tuning in!
Don’t miss these related articles:
- How to Make Homemade Lavender Salve
- How to Make Rosehip Infused Oil, and 12 Ways to Use It
- Harvesting Fresh Lavender: How to Harvest, Prune & Dry Lavender Flowers
- How to Make Soothing Chickweed Salve Recipe and Infused Oil
- 11 Best Carrier Oils for Skin Care, Salves and Infusions
- How to Make Homemade Calendula Salve for Healthy Skin
Homemade Lavender Oil Recipe
Equipment
- glass container or jar with lid
- fine mesh strainer and/or cheesecloth
Ingredients
- Dried lavender flowers or buds, homegrown or organic if possible
- Carrier oil of choice (enough to fill your chosen container). Select a high-quality, unrefined, cold-pressed, and organic oils for the most healthy and healing lavender oil. Popular options for natural skincare include jojoba oil, olive oil, argan oil, grapeseed oil, sweet almond oil, sunflower oil, and more!
- optional: lavender essential oils
Instructions
- Obtain dried lavender flowers. It is important to start with 100% dry flowers.
- Fill a clean glass container about ¾ full of dried lavender buds.
- Pour your choice of oil over the dried lavender flowers, until the container is full and/or until the flowers are completely submerged.
- Place a lid on the container, and store it in a moderately warm location to enhance infusion, such as a warm cabinet, on top of a warm appliance, or near a sunny window. Dark or light is okay.
- Allow the oil and flowers to infuse for at least two weeks, up to a month (or longer) for the best results. Shake/turn the jar on occasion to keep the floating flowers coated with oil.
- When the time is up, strain the flowers from the oil. Line a fine-mesh strainer or canning funnel with cheesecloth (or use a reusable nutmilk bag), place it over a clean glass container, and then pour the oil and flowers in to drain. Squeeze the cheesecloth sack of flowers to extract every last bit of oil!
- Optional: Add lavender essential oils for little extra oomph of aroma. The recommended safe dilution ratio for essential oils is about 2%, or 12 drops of EOs per fluid ounce of carrier oil, but we use far less. Try just a few drops and then adjust as needed.
- Store the finished lavender oil in a cool, dry location. It can also be stored in the refrigerator to extend the shelf life. Read the information on your carrier oil bottle to determine the recommended shelf life of your lavender oil.
- Enjoy! Use your lavender oil as a daily facial moisturizer (only a few drops needed), as a massage or body oil, an ingredient in other homemade skincare recipes such as salve or soap, to condition hair, as a makeup remover, as marinade or in baked goods (if an edible oil was used), in homemade cleaning products, or give it as a gift!
61 Comments
Faith
Made my first batch of infused Lavender Oil using a combination of EVOO and Almond Oil, and I love it! Used it in my healing salves and it worked wonderully. Thank you so much for sharing! I have a few questions – Is there anything I can do with the used buds after squeezing out the oil? We do not compost and I hate to throw them aways since they stll have some of that silky goodness left. Also, when using EVOO can you use some that is less expensive, since the cost of evrything is rising so dramatically?
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Faith, glad to hear you’re enjoying your lavender oil so much and using it in salves! Some possible uses of your spent flowers would be to use it in a homemade bath salt or body scrub, and you could use a less expensive oil but I would still try and use quality ingredients since this is something that will be used on your skin. Best of luck!
Elizabeth Raptis
I have made calendula salve and will be making comfrey salve soon. Instead of essential oils to add fragrance to a salve, can I use dried herbs such as mint and lavender, adding them with the comfrey to the carrier oil? And could I do this with any herbal salve?
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Elizabeth, you can absolutely leave dried flowers or herbs in your salve. It may just get a bit messy working around the plant material to get to your salve. Have fun making your next batch and good luck!
Melissa
I adore your website and follow on social media. 🙂 I have more lavender plant material than flowers. What do you think about using the lavender foliage instead of the flowers? Still the same benefits? I was planning to do a carrier oil mix of Jojoba and Argan oil and infuse with calendula and lavender at the same time. I’m hoping to use as a facial and body oil.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Melissa, that oil and flower mix sounds like it will make a great face and body oil! While the lavender flowers may contain more beneficial properties than the leaves themselves, the leaves are also plenty fragrant and likely have some of the same medicinal value as well. Hope you enjoy your oil!
Julia
Hi There,
I made your salve last year using olive oil and absolutely loved it. This year I am going to use lavender from my garden and try out the lavender oil recipte.
My question is: I live in an area where I have access to local, high quality, extra virgin cold pressed soy bean oil. Do you think I could use that as a carrier oil?
Thank you for your help in advance!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Julia, that sounds like an interesting option but one that should work out great as it seems to have many properties that are beneficial to your skin. Glad you enjoyed the salve and have fun making more!
kathy mosca
I made lavendar oil and I’m wondering if I should just throw out (compost) the used oily lavender buds or is there another way to use them. I have about two cups of them.
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
We usually just compost the leftover flowers.
Susie
Is it too late in the summer to harvest and use my lavender? It isn’t blooming much anymore, but it isn’t completely dried out yet either. If it’s too late, are there other ways I can use it? I don’t have a lot of lavender, so I left it all summer for the bees to enjoy before using it myself. Thank you!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
It’s not too late to still harvest the lavender, you could still use the blooms in oil although the most medicinal flowers are the ones that have not yet or just begun to bloom. If you don’t want to make lavender oil, you could harvest the blooms with stems and make a bouquet, harvest the blooms and use in a sachet so you can have a whiff of lavender here and there when needed, use the blooms in a bath salt, make lavender sugar, or a lavender simple syrup. This is all assuming that the lavender is properly dried after harvesting as well. Hope that helps and enjoy!
Lhy
Thanks for this very informative content! Really helpful for a beginner like me. Though, I wanna ask, is it okay to use unfiltered EVOO? Or would you recommend to use filtered ones? Thank you very much! ☺
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Lhy, using unfiltered EVOO will work just fine! We’re glad you found the content helpful and good luck!
Kendra Juurlink
Can you use this lavender oil in diffusers? If you use Extra-virgin olive oil?
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Kendra, the lavender infused oil is much thicker than essential oils, it isn’t concentrated enough nor volatile enough to be effective in a diffuser. Hope that helps and good luck!
Sash
Enjoyed reading the details of making lavender oil. If I have to make lip balms which carrier oil would be the best . Thanks
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Sash, check out our article on Natural Lip Balm Recipe: How to Make Homemade Lip Balm for easy instructions on how we make our lip balm.
Jill
Hi there,
First off congrats on your move! My husband and I have been following you for a while now and we’re really excited to watch your new space bloom.
I am so thankful for this article. The option to make my own skincare is very appealing and a recent purchase of 5 lavender plants sparked my curiousity and started my journey!
I stored the oil in my greenhouse while the lavendar was infusing and I’m afraid it may have gotten too hot. The glass jar was quite warm to the touch one afternoon. If the oil gets too hot I assume it’s still useable but the healing properties may be decreased. I know I must be careful heating the oil in a salve too and I wonder if you have any addtional information on the efficacy of the oil if overheated and a high temperature to avoid.
Thank you!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Jill, thank you so much for the kind words and we appreciate you being here as well! It is best to infuse your oil indoors with indirect light for the most part. There is no need to subject it to too much light or heat during the infusion process, when you make the salve, you will be using a double boiler which will prevent the oil from overheating. You can always melt your beeswax and shea butter first before adding your oil if it is still something of concern. Hope that helps and we hope you enjoy your new lavender blooms as much as the bees do!
Fran
WOW! That was probably the most thorough and informative post I’ve ever read! Thank you for sharing all this wonderful information!!
One thing I didn’t see (did I miss it) – is it ok to squeeze a few Vitamin E capsules into it for a face moisturizer? Or do you think that isn’t even necessary? And/or a few Vitamin C drops? I’m also wondering if they would help the shelf life of the product. Thoughts?
I’m just harvesting my lavender here in NY, and I can’t wait until it’s dry to get started!
Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)
Hi Fran, we use Vitamin E in our lip balms but we use the liquid form that can be added via a dropper. I don’t think Vitamin C would be necessary as the oil seems to last for some time depending on the carrier oil used. Hope that helps and good luck on your lavender harvest!