The power of essential oils for hay fever - Lavender
Whenever we develop a new product, every ingredient is extensively researched and selected for its scientifically-backed and longstanding use in traditional remedies.
Breaze Hay Fever support products are based on a complex functional aromatherapy formulation of 10 essential oils and botanical ingredients. Each plays an important role and together they’re proven to help you breathe easier and sleep better when hay fever and allergies strike.1
In this series, we’re taking a deep dive on our functional ingredients to explain the history, heritage and science behind each, and to show how it earned its place in our award-winning formulation.
Lavender. Lavendula Angustifolia
A familiar hardy flowering plant, Lavender is part of the mint family. Its closest relatives are many of the culinary herbs, like rosemary, basil, oregano, thyme and sage. It can grow to a metre high and has silvery green leaves and light purple flowers. Lavender grows best in moderate climates with sunny, temperate summers and dry, mild winters. It’s native to the Mediterranean but will grow wherever the climate is right.
The highest quality lavender essential oil is produced by steam distillation of the flowers. The leaves can also produce essential oil of a lower grade.
Often the basis for wellbeing products that promote relaxation and sleep, it’s easy to write lavender off as a one trick pony, but its pedigree and history as a healing herb, cooking ingredient and traditional medicine go much further than that.
As one of the most widely researched essential oils, Lavender has a wealth of scientific data to support its use to treat numerous health complaints from anxiety, stress and insomnia to period pain, muscle aches and wound healing.
In one 2016 study, lavender was shown to promote wound healing through the increased formation of healing tissue. It was used to treat wounds in WW1 and Queen Elizabeth I is said to have used it to help relieve migraines. But the Romans and Ancient Greeks were way ahead of us and the Tudors! There’s evidence that they used lavender for its healing properties thousands of years ago.
Lavender is central to our formulation for its natural antihistamine and anti-inflammatory effects. Modern studies show it can suppress allergic inflammation in the airways, a common symptom of hay fever and allergic rhinitis which causes the stuffy nose and head so common with hay fever.
Like all fragrances, Lavender can evoke vivid memories. And it’s not for everyone. Some people have a real aversion to the smell, and this is often related to whatever memories it conjures up for you. If you’re a hater not a lover, there’s good news; none of the Breaze products has an overtly lavender fragrance. Because it’s included in a complex essential oil blend, the smell is balanced by the other ingredients.
Whether it takes you right back to your Grandma’s Yardley perfume, furniture polish and loo cleaner, or transports you to the south of France, there’s no disputing Lavender essential oil’s historical pedigree as a medicinal powerhouse.
1 Breaze user trial 2020 82% of users said that Breaze helped with hay fever symptoms