Eleanor Whitcombe
Why Lavender Earns Its Place by the Bedside
There is a reason lavender has been tucked into linen chests and sleep pillows for centuries, and it is not simply nostalgia. On a warm afternoon in the British countryside, a hedge of it hums with bees and smells of something older than perfumery — clean, faintly sweet, quietly soporific. Scent is the most direct of the senses, and lavender has become shorthand for the moment the day is set aside, which is exactly what you want from a balm you reach for last thing at night.
For a sleep balm, seek out English lavender — Lavandula angustifolia, the varieties such as 'Hidcote' and 'Munstead' that grow happily in our cooler summers. It is softer and rounder than the French and Spanish lavenders, which carry more camphor and can smell sharp, almost medicinal. If you grow your own, cut the stems on a dry morning in July just as the buds open, tie them in small bunches and hang them somewhere airy and dark for a fortnight.
What You Will Need
This makes roughly four 30ml tins — enough to see you through the winter and to give a couple away.
- Dried lavender buds — 30g, rubbed off the stems
- Light olive oil — 250ml, or sweet almond or sunflower oil if you prefer something less scented
- Beeswax — 30g, grated or in pastilles
- A clean jam jar with a tight lid
- A small saucepan and a heatproof bowl that sits over it without touching the water
- Muslin or a fine sieve
- A jug with a spout — a heatproof measuring jug is ideal for pouring
- Four small tins or amber glass jars
Use dried lavender, never fresh. Fresh buds carry water, and water in oil is what turns a balm rancid within weeks. If you are buying, choose buds that still smell sweet and have kept some of their colour rather than grey, dusty ones.
Infusing the Oil
The slow version is the good version. Tip the lavender into your jam jar, pour over the oil until the buds are covered by a good centimetre, seal, and stand it in a cool, dark cupboard for three to four weeks, shaking it gently each day. The oil will take on a soft green-gold tint and a scent that is round rather than perfumed.
If you would rather not wait, use gentle heat instead. Put the lavender and oil in the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water — the water should not touch the base of the bowl — and keep it there on the lowest heat for two to three hours. Never let it bubble or spit; heat that is too fierce cooks the scent out and gives the oil a slightly bitter edge. Either way, the test is the same: when the oil smells sweet and settled rather than green and raw, it is ready.
Strain through muslin into a jug, pressing the buds with the back of a spoon to coax out the last of the oil, then leave it to stand for an hour and decant off any sediment.
Melting, Pouring and Setting
Now for the beeswax, which decides how firm your balm will be. For every six parts infused oil by weight, use one part beeswax — that gives a balm that holds its shape in a tin but melts readily on skin. Use eight to one for something softer and more yielding, which is nicer for a bedside tin in a warm bedroom.
Measure your oil, return it to the bowl over simmering water, and add the grated beeswax. Stir gently until the wax has disappeared entirely and the mixture is clear, with no little flecks remaining. To check the set, drop a teaspoon onto a cold saucer and pop it in the fridge for five minutes; if it is too soft, add a few more grams of wax, if too hard, a splash more oil. Pour carefully into your tins, leave them undisturbed for an hour or two to set, then label with the date.
Using It Before You Settle Down
A pea-sized amount is plenty. Warm it between your fingertips until it turns to oil, then press — don't rub — into your pulse points: the inner wrists, the crook of each elbow, behind the ears, the base of the throat and the temples. The skin is thin there and the scent rises steadily rather than in one heavy wave. Avoid broken skin, and keep it well away from your eyes. Patch-test on the inside of your forearm a day before you use it properly, particularly if your skin is sensitive.
The balm works best as part of a sequence rather than on its own. Kettle off, big light off, phone face-down in another room, balm on, then a few slow breaths at the window. Give it a fortnight of repetition and the scent alone will start to do the work of telling your body that the day has finished.
Small Variations and Keeping It Well
Once you have the basic method, it invites tinkering. A tablespoon of dried chamomile flowers added to the infusion lends a soft, apple-like warmth. A teaspoon of cocoa butter makes the balm richer for winter hands and heels as well as pulse points. If you want to lift the scent, add no more than two drops of true lavender essential oil at the pouring stage — dried herbs are gentler, and it is easy to overdo it.
Stored in a cool, dark cupboard, your balm will keep for nine to twelve months. Amber glass or tins protect the oil from light, and a clean finger or a small spatula keeps water out. If it ever smells waxy and flat, like old crayons, it has turned — compost it and make a fresh batch when the lavender comes round again.
