Excursions and Experiments in Lavender

Lavender Sleep Stones

2011-06-08T05:26:00.000-07:00

Spring cleaning had begun, and my 3 year old had stopped sleeping. Whether or not these two things were related, I don't know, but I was exhausted, and she wasn't sleeping. Something had to be done.

Every night she was climbing into our bed, two, three, even four times in a night, where we would leave her until she started kicking in her sleep or pushing one of us out of bed. With the lack of sleep, everyone was on edge.

When the lavender essential oils arrived from France, I found the needed stone to make my first sleep stone. For, as every parent knows, the expression "to sleep like a baby", doesn't always mean that babies or toddlers sleep soundly through the night.

Parents also know that if children sleep well, parents are more likely to be able to sleep.

I made two sleep stones to start - one for my little one's room, and one for my own, and the sound sleep we all had that night was a dream come true.

It is now three nights that she has stayed in bed, and everyone in the house is happier and less on edge.

Conclusion? The sleep stones are a success, and we will have them on our website very soon!

Organic Lavender Essential OIls

2011-06-07T18:47:00.000-07:00

They finally arrived! After almost a year of sourcing, e-mailing, phone tagging, translating, and waiting, waiting waiting, they are here.

The French organic lavender essential oils have arrived.

The smell is absolutely divine. Devoid of the sharp "chemical" smell that seems to accompany most of the lavender essential oils I have used before, I am absolutely thrilled to be able to offer this unique organic lavender essential oil to our customers, as well as use it in our products.

How are essential oils used? Here are some ways we like to use ours:

A couple drops on a pillow to help sleep

10-15 drops in a luxurious bath

10-15 drops in the wash, especially in delicate or hang to dry loads

In aromatic diffusers

Added to lotions and sunscreens to help ward off mosquitoes (very well diluted)

And our new favourite is for freshening up sleep stones.

Join us tomorrow for an update on our sleep stones!

Growing the company

2011-03-14T05:28:00.000-07:00

Hello all, and welcome to our blog.

Things have been really growing for us, which is really exciting. However, with the excitement of growing comes growing pains.

I'm not talking about the growing pains that can be eased by heating up one of our lavender heating pads and relaxing; I'm talking about the part where the government wants its share of the profits. So we now will be adding tax to our product. The good news about that is that because we are out of Alberta, it's only 5%.

Although we do need to charge the GST, to counteract this to all of our customers, we will be offering a free gift with every purchase (a small lavender spritzer) for you to try out.

We appreciate your support since we began almost two years ago, and hope to see your continued support in the future.

And remember to continue taking a moment to relax on a lavender breeze!

Getting Rid of Monthly Cramps Naturally

2011-03-03T04:31:00.001-08:00

When I was a teenager, I began suffering from severe cramps. Every month, I would take off a day or two of school to stay in bed and whimper, turning to Midol, hot baths, trying to eat better, and all the things everyone always recommended.

And some of them helped a little. Exercise helped. Midol helped. Not indulging my cravings for sweets helped a little. But every month they were back.

As I started researching lavender, I read about the claim that they relieved cramps. As I started my business, I tested it out. I used lavender heating pads on my cramps, or had hot baths with lavender in them.

This month, I realized that things have changed.

I'm not nearly so cranky when "Mother Nature" comes to visit. My cramps aren't nearly as bad. And I don't dread the knowledge that I'll be staying in bed. Because I don't.

I don't need Midol anymore, and the only thing that I can see that's changed is our use of lavender as an alternative. I don't exercise regularly (I try, but it's always on again, off again), or ignore my cravings (although I may have changed what I eat for my cravings since I was a teenager). But the biggest difference is using lavender heating pads and having lavender baths.

The lavender is great, since it is a natural relaxant, and this makes me way less cranky and grumpy every month.

And that makes everyone happy!

Back again - Lavender essential oils

2011-02-22T05:53:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm sure you all know how life has a habit of getting hectic, and time can get away from us, especially with a 3 year old on the loose, and work and school and life keeping us busy. So, yes, that is my excuse for not writing for a long time. With apologies.

That doesn't mean that we haven't been busy, of course. New things come up all the time.

I have found the most amazing organic lavender essential oil. I have never smelled anything that can even compare. So I have been corresponding with someone trying to bring that in for our e-store.

It's amazing how different the "same" essential oils can smell. Lavender essential oils are broken up into "lavendin" and "lavender" essential oils. These two types of lavender essential oils are from different varieties of the lavender flower that grow at different heights from sea level.

In my research (smell tests), I have found that where the lavender is grown in the world makes a huge difference as well as the particular farm it is from. I have purchased French lavender essential oils, but the sample of a French organic lavender essential oil that I am currently working on purchasing is in a class all of its own.

Keeping my fingers crossed that we can put our order in soon, sending wishes you all can relax on a lavender breeze!

Summer in review

2010-09-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

Well, September is upon us, and it's one of those times when many of us stop to evaluate our lives. I know I do. And I think I've done okay this summer. We found our new organic local flax farmer, and have switched over to organic flax. We have added lavender spritzers, soaps, bath salts, loose lavender, and gift baskets. We have finally gotten in our bamboo fabric for our heating pads and snuggle buddies. And we have started embroidering our logo onto our heating pads, and making embroidered reclaimed denim handbags.

We're looking forward, too. In the near future, we will be adding wrist rests for those of us who spend inordinate amounts of time at the computer, and luxurious bamboo shirts, hoodies, and sweaters to our line up. It's been a busy summer, and we don't see things changing any time soon!

To make room for our new inventory, check out our blow out specials of our current stock, with all of our heating pads and snuggle buddies at 50% off!

With the sad news of the passing of Linda Nielsen, who helped us procure our government grant, we are donating 10% of all sales during the month of September to the Linda Nielsen Scholarship fund at St. Mary's University in her honour. We would appreciate any help in honouring her memory by your purchases this month.

Divine Spa Salts

2010-08-27T14:19:00.000-07:00

I have never been one for unscented bath salts. Usually, I want either mountains of bubbles, or a luxurious scent, but I thought I would try something new. I had been recommended spa salts, including Himalayan Sea Salts, Solar Salts, Dead Sea Salts, and Grey Brut Organic French Salt.

With this luxurious blend, I ran myself a hot bath, and found myself melting in the bath. It was so relaxing, that even the sound of my two-and-a-half year old whining in the hallway didn't make me wince like I usually do. After all, that's what husbands are for, right?

My daughter adored the bubbling bath salts I had tested, with the mounds of bubbles, and the lavender bath salts took away the stress of my day, and it turns out that the unscented spa salts are also just as relaxing. So, it looks like we have three winning combinations. The friends and relations who have tried them have also given rave reviews, so we will have them up on our website in the coming week or so!

Treating my wrists to a little luxury

2010-08-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

I spend an obscene amount of time on the computer. Not obscene compared with the average Canadian, but obscene compared to how much time I spend on other chores or tasks: cooking, cleaning, reading to my daughter, creating new products, etc, etc, etc.

So I decided that maybe it was time that my aching wrists deserved a little bit of a treat. So, while I was cutting out material today to get ready for the upcoming charity golf tournament that Lavender Breeze is attending, I cut out a couple of samplers to test them out. Using bamboo velour, I created lavender wrist rests for while I am typing. I have to say, I am quite pleased with the result. The velour is really nice in the freezer or in the microwave, and I have to say, it really takes the pressure off of the wrists while typing.

I grew up playing the piano, and even now, I feel my old piano teacher's eyes on me, telling me to "Keep those wrists up!" whether I'm playing the piano or typing at the computer, so being able to just relax them on a soft velour rest really gives me something to enjoy.

My little brother is a computer programmer, so I think I'll give him the other one to try out and see what he thinks before adding this to our repertoire, but I think this is a keeper. I think anything that can make me relax while on the computer for too many hours of the day, is a step in the right direction!

Adopting Bamboo

2010-08-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been terribly lax on my blogging this summer, and I can't imagine I will get all that much better during my final year of University, but I am going to start again. And perhaps I will get a few posts done before life gets away from me again!

The grant has been moving forward, and I am starting to get to my new phase. I have had wonderful feedback on my bamboo fabrics, and just went and picked up my large shipment today.

However, there was a glitch. The bamboo supplier lost their supplier who makes the bamboo satin. Literally. They are apparently lost somewhere in India. This, of course, is problematic, since I now have no supplier for my satin eye pillow material. Of course, I have been frantically combing the web, searching for somewhere new, but have found nothing this side of the Atlantic ocean. So switching to new materials for those will have to wait. If anyone knows of bamboo suppliers in North America, I would love to hear from you!

On the positive side, the bamboo fleeces and velours are amazing, and I love heating one up (yes, even on the warm summer evenings!) to go to sleep, and I find myself waking up hours later, with the heat still retained, and the stress I carry in my shoulders from chasing a two-and-a-half year old all day, having slipped away.

We will soon be blowing out the rest of our merchandise to bring in the bamboo materials for our wonderful "green" lavender heating pads. Which in the summer we also point out are great for sticking in the freezer to cool down on hot summer nights as well.

Well, motherhood calls, but watch for my next post on our new bath salts!

Ongoing Mosquito Repellent Trials

2010-07-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

With mixed reviews on our first attempt at a lavender mosquito repellent, I decided it was time to try something a little bit different. With our first attempts, one friend used the lavender mosquito spray while camping and said she didn’t have any mosquito bites the whole trip. My husband said he needed something stronger. Our initial mosquito spray, a lavender spray in a mister, works well for some, and is also effective as a pillow mister to help restless minds drift off to sleep. It is now one of the new products on our website, called Lavender Lullabye.

I started by using witch hazel in place of distilled water as a base. I gave it to my landscaper husband, who got bit before he even put it on. He sprayed it on, and was surprised to find that it took away the itch of the bite – something I have read both lavender and witch hazel are good for. He found that that the spray worked for him in the morning, but by afternoon, it no longer had any effect. We thought it might have something to do with the heavy manual labour required in his job, or the exhaust from the machines overpowering the scent of the spray, since even commercial mosquito repellent with DEET were having little effect at keeping the mosquitoes at bay.

To make the mosquito repellent more effective, I tried adding a few different essential oils as well, including the ever popular citronella. I will continue testing, but am already more satisfied with the new results and like the smell of the mixture a lot better than a lot of “citronella” mosquito repellents.

Check back over the next couple of weeks to see our progress as well as to check out what else is going on here at Lavender Breeze!

Lavender Dreams

2010-05-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

As mosquitoes haven’t been out much with the snow hitting Calgary this week, I have not been testing the spritzers so much for mosquito repellent this week. Instead, I tried them as pillow sprays to help us sleep, and as body sprays as a light perfume.

I decided to try making a mix of lavender and vanilla for the spritzers, which smelled absolutely delicious. We sprayed my daughter’s pillow with it before her nap, and she fell asleep rather quickly. Pleased with this apparent success, we sprayed all of the pillows before bedtime. Big mistake. It started with our daughter. By 11:00, she had been up about 5 times, and at 2:00 am, my husband brought her back to our bed. But she wasn’t the only one having problems sleeping. My husband and I were also up tossing and turning all night. The next day, I read somewhere that lavender essential oils, when blended with other essential oils, enhance any effects of the oils they’re blended with. My conclusion? Vanilla does not help you sleep, and the lavender enhanced that.

Anxious to sleep well the following night, I used the pure lavender Spritzer. The result was heavenly. I did not hear a peep out of my little angel all night long, and she slept in an hour later than usual. Since she’s been potty trained, she hasn’t slept much later than 6:00am. With the lavender scent on her pillow, she slept until 7:00. Thinking it may have been a fluke, I used it again the next night (last night), and the same thing. It’s 6:30 as I write this, and I still haven’t heard a sound from her room. As far as I’m concerned, they are a success for helping with sleep. (I had some on my pillow last night, and I slept much better as well.)

Now if only I can find a way to make it stop snowing, so I can use it as a mosquito repellent!

New Natural Mosquito Repellents

2010-05-21T20:23:00.000-07:00

Don’t get me wrong. I love our lavender dryer sachets. I think they’re wonderful for a natural mosquito repellent. But there’s something about having an independent 2 year old who insists on wearing the same outfit for a week that makes it less effective by day 3 or 4 for warding off the mosquitoes. And hanging my delicates to dry on the line posed an additional problem.

So when someone suggested making spritzers, I was intrigued. I found some bottles with spritzer tops and made a concoction of orange and lavender essential oils and created a spray. I added the orange, just for something a little different. I’ve sprayed it on myself and my daughter each time we’ve gone out, and even down by the river, it seemed to keep the mosquitoes at bay, and it’s a light spray, more of a mist, so it doesn’t feel heavy or oily when I sprayed it on.

The spritzers can be used as room sprays, pillow sprays, body spritzers, as well as for the mosquito repellent, but that’s where I began to question the orange mixed with the lavender. It smelled wonderful, but as a pillow spray, citrus is a stimulant, whereas lavender is a relaxant, also citrus can cause some sun sensitivity (although in those small amounts, it should be unlikely.)

However, with my husband, the landscaper, wearing a new outfit that hadn’t been put through the dryer with our lavender sachets, he was swarmed by mosquitoes, so I am making up some new spritzers for him and other volunteers to test them out before adding them to our line.

Check back next week to see our results!

Going even Greener!

2010-05-12T11:46:00.000-07:00

I’m back, and we’re going greener!

Well, I admit I have taken a bit of a sabbatical from my blog (my apologies!) while I was in school over the last year, but I’m back this summer with ideas on creating a greener product.

This year, I was awarded a grant from the Alberta government – a technopreneurship – to help my little company. When I say I was awarded a grant, I should say that I was informed that I had been awarded the grant. I’m still fighting through the red tape to actually receive it, but it is helping achieve our plans to go greener.

So I would like to let you know some of the exciting changes we have planned for this coming year.

Our first green plan is to switch our flax. Currently we have been using regular flax, which I’m sure comes through several hands before we purchased it. We have discovered an organic flax farm just south of Calgary. We will be able to switch to organic flax, and also decrease our carbon footprint on this product.

Our second change we are looking forward to is changing to organic bamboo material. We have found a carrier of bamboo material that has organic cotton/bamboo fleece blend which we are hoping to use for our heating pads and snuggle buddies, as well as bamboo silk for our lavender silk eye pillows. We are also looking at the soy/bamboo material as well as the hemp/bamboo blends to see if those might be something that would work in the future.

Our third change that we are hoping to do is to travel to France and find a lavender farm that will send us the lavender and lavender essential oils directly. This way we will be able to make sure that it is the highest quality organic lavender and lavender essential oils as well as cutting down on our carbon footprint. It will also give us a chance to visit the lavender festivals to come up with ideas for new products. It will also allow us to see the farms up close to ensure the best possible product for our customers.

We’re looking forward to the red tape being fought through to make these switches and bring you an even more environmentally friendly product!

Bath Bombs and Bath Salts

2009-09-05T07:09:00.000-07:00

I have begun trying my hand at bath bombs and bath salts. Lavender is a natural relaxant, so it seemed a natural addition to a luxury in our fast paced society- a soothing bath.

While visiting the Calgary Stampede, I picked up a booklet on “Crafts in the kitchen with kids”, with bath bombs as one of the activities.
I followed the recipe, making the mini bath bombs, and ended up with 3 ping pong sized balls (makes 2-3, the recipe said). After allowing them to dry, I took a bath, dropping in the bath bomb. To say the recipe “bombed”, would be putting it lightly. The ball sank to the bottom of the tub, and sort of melted there. The bath water was okay, but it didn’t react as a bath bomb should. There was nothing explosive about it.

My next attempt, I decided, needed a little more research. So I went to my search engine and did some homework. After discovering other people’s mistakes, I found enough information to make a second attempt. At fizzing lavender bath salts, this time.

The recipe I had discovered suggested putting the salts into organza bags to keep the lavender from plugging up the tub. So after mixing together the fine ingredients, I poured them into an organza sack. The powder sifted right through. I found a tighter weave of organza and tried it. Again, it sifted right through. I found the tightest weave of organza I had. Again, it sifted through. Frustrated, I made a small cotton sachet and filled it.

Success!

The salts stayed in the bag. I sewed up the top. Looking over, I saw my muslin material. I wonder… I thought to myself. I poured in the bath salt mixture. A little leaked through, but mostly it stayed in place. Satisfied, I sewed up the top of the bag.

A couple days later, I decided it was time to test them out. Unable to find someone to watch my little girl so that I could have a long, luxurious bath, it was decided she would join me. She loves baths, and I figured it couldn’t hurt, as all the ingredients are natural and safe.

I noticed the salts had hardened in their sachets, but as I dropped them in, both the cotton and muslin sachets began to bubble and fill with air, floating around the tub. My daughter thought it was great fun to play with the little sacks. They were strangely cool to the touch, and floated on top of the water. Also, as promised, the lavender stayed in the sachets instead of going down my drain.

The cotton sack released the air much more slowly, but both bubbled quite satisfyingly. As for the lavender added to the bath, it was definitely the most relaxing bath I have ever taken with an active 20-month-old.

I tried out another test sample after a day with 2 long bike rides, and the combination of hot water and lavender did wonders for my sore muscles, even relaxing a pulled muscle in my neck better than the lotions and massages had managed to. It’s not completely better, but it’s a lot better.

So it’s still a trial in motion. I am waiting on some specialty salts to try a new recipe, and I’m going to try moulding my fizzing bath salts into bath bombs.

Next week, our blog will feature something special – our new heating pads and an encounter with Mike Holmes!

Barley vs. flax heating pads

2009-08-24T18:41:00.000-07:00

This week, I decided to do a somewhat more scientific experiment. And every good scientist needs a hot assistant, and I had mine. My husband’s more scientific and unbiased approach to things made him the perfect assistant. I remember doing science experiments in junior high, and used the same approach.

Question: Which filling is better for a heating pad, flax or barley? Which will retain its heat longer and which is more comfortable?

Hypothesis: The barley should retain its heat longer, since each piece of barley is larger than each piece of flax. The flax will be more supple, and therefore more comfortable.

Method: Two identical heating pads were made for this experiment, each filled with exactly 1 ½ cups of filling, and sewn shut.

Variable: 1 heating pad was filled with a lavender/flax mixture (1 part: 3 parts), 1 heating pad was filled with a lavender/barley mixture (1 part: 3 parts).

Test one: Each heating pad was heated for 1 minute in the microwave. This proved to be too long, as each heating pad was too hot to touch. As they cooled slightly, I put each one on the bare skin of my legs and sat to wait for them to cool. I felt them occasionally with my hands as well, and asked my assistant to test them as well. Although the flax heated up more, they lost their heat at about the same rate. There was no noticeable difference in the rate of heat loss.

Test two: I determined to heat each heating pad to approximately the same temperature to test which stayed warm for the longest. I heated the barley heating pad for 45 seconds and the flax heating pad for 30 seconds. I again put each one on the bare skin of my legs and sat to wait for them to cool. My assistant and I both concurred that there was little difference between the two, with the barley staying minutely warmer than the flax.

Test three: The cuddle test. Which one was more comfortable? The feel of the flax was far softer to the feel than the barley. The barley felt a little bit prickly, whereas there were no hard edges to the flax to be prickly or uncomfortable.

Conclusion: Although the barley retained its heat a little bit longer, the difference was not significant enough to switch to barley, as the feel of the flax is so much nicer that the heat retention difference was deemed insignificant by comparison.

Note: Spritzing the heating pads with water, or heating them with a glass of water in the microwave will prolong the life of the heating pad.

Join us next week as we tackle bath bombs and bath salts. A special thank you to my lab assistant!

Lavender Dreams

2009-08-17T21:17:00.000-07:00

Lavender has long been used as a sleep aid. Some people claim it works as well as sleeping pills, but without any of the side effects. This week I decided to test this claim on the most restless sleeper in our house - my husband.

My husband, as I may have mentioned before, is something of a skeptic. He's also quite stubborn, and when he makes up his mind about something, there is no changing it. So, I didn't see the need to inform him of my latest experiment I would be testing on him.

I merely took one of my French Organic Lavender Pillow and Drawer Liners and slipped it into his pillowcase while he was at work, landscaping.

"You know," he said, as we climbed into bed for the night, "the whole house is starting to smell like lavender."

I just smiled. "I know," I said. "Isn't it wonderful?"

The next morning, I awoke from a wonderful lavender induced sleep. I felt wonderful. I turned to my husband. "How did you sleep last night?" I asked.

He looked at me slightly confused. "It's weird," he said, "I had one of the best sleeps ever last night." For him, this is rather significant, as he doesn't usually sleep well. He tosses and turns a lot, and wakes up several times a night.

I reached into his pillow, and pulled out the pillow liner. "Think this might have had something to do with it?"

He shrugged. "All I know is I slept really well, and whatever it was, I'd use it again." So the lavender liner has a new home under my husband's pillow. I don't complain, since it helps me sleep as well.

After a couple of night, my husband mentioned that his dreams were especially vivid with the lavender, and I noticed this as well, although I often have vivid dreams, so I cannot necessarily connect that to the lavender.

A friend of mine who has the large satin lavender eye pillow says that she uses that to help her fall back to sleep after nursing at night time, and she finds that helps her to go back to sleep more easily.

It looks like this is another successful experiment! Lavender can help with a good night of sleep, and lavender triumphs over the skeptic again!

Join us next week as we compare flax heating pads to barley heating pads, comparing which is the most comfortable and which one retains heat the best.

Lavender heating pads

2009-08-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

My husband has been complaining of knee pains for a long time. X-rays have shown that his problems are a combination of torn ACL and arthritis. This is, of course, problematic for a landscaper, and so I started my experiment.

Lavender is claimed to be an "adaptogen", which means that it adapts to what your body needs and starts the healing process. The lavender added to the heat on soar muscles is wonderful. I love it. It works wonders for menstrual cramps and aching muscles. But would my skeptic husband be convinced?

He has been using a brace on his knee all year, and complaining terribly of the pain. So every night, as he sat on the couch to relax, I heated up one of our lavender heating pads for him, and put it on his knee.

There are a combination of things that he thinks perhaps helped soothe his knee. Putting his knee up to rest probably helped. The heat helped, and he says that, although he wouldn’t say that his knee was healed after using the lavender heating pad, it definitely was very soothing, and helped ease the pain. Of course, few things that severe are cured over a week, so we will keep using it.

So the skeptic, although not completely won over on this subject, is starting to be swayed on the benefits of heat and lavender combined.

Stay tuned next week as we see how our lavender skeptic sleeps when we put lavender under his pillow!

Starting the Experiments - Lavender Dryer Sachets vs Mosquitoes

2009-07-28T19:50:00.000-07:00

When someone first suggested that I start a blog, I must admit that the first thing that came to mind was a Corner Gas episode with Hank typing into cyberspace and nobody reading it. Needless to say, I hope more people read this.

My blog is going to document my excursions and experiments with lavender.

When my daughter was first born, I began researching different natural products to replace all of the chemical-filled products in our house. That was how I was introduced to lavender. The more I read, the more intrigued I became. Can one herb really have this many healing properties? I wondered. Can it really do everything that people claim it can do?

I started by sewing lavender sachets out of muslin and using them in the dryer. I was pleased with the results.

My husband,however, wonderful though he is, was skeptical. He's good like that. He's skeptical about a lot of things. It helps keep me grounded. He therefore also makes a wonderful test subject. No placebo for him.

So we start with the dryer sachets. Lavender, many people claim, is a natural mosquito repellent. This summer has not been a bad one for mosquitoes, but my husband does landscaping. Some of his jobs take him to places with many more mosquitoes than in our back yard. After several days of his colleagues mentioning how bad the mosquitoes were, my husband started to clue in that maybe the lavender in the wash was making his clothes mosquito repellent.

This week, he came home one day after work, complaining of his first mosquito bites of the summer. He had been wearing a new shirt that hasn't gone through the laundry yet!

Results? Even when the lavender sachets are used up to 12-16 times each, they appear to have a mosquito repelling effect on clothes. Also, neither myself nor my little girl have gotten any bites this summer. My husband is convinced for this lavender claim!

Check back next week to hear about our next “lavender experiment”!