NOW Foods Lavender Oil, Soothing Aromatherapy, 4-Ounce

Truthfully I’m not super well versed in essential oils, nor do I use many EOs–mainly tea tree and lavender–but I know that this stuff works well for me and I’m definitely going to purchase this again when I run out.

I went to my local vitamin store to peruse and actually smell to compare different brands of lavender EO such as Aura Cacia, Nature’s Alchemy, and of course NOW Foods. Frankly the lavender oil of all these brands smelled the same to me, but others might have more discerning olfactory senses than I do, though I truly don’t think there was much of a difference among these brands scent-wise. I chose NOW Foods because they seemed to be the best choice for me price-wise and quality-wise but the reviewers that insisted that NOW brand wasn’t “quality” and that you needed to spend more money for so-called “quality” EO brands did make me wary. However NOW Foods brand lavender oil has done everything I expected it to and more, so I’m never shelling out money for “higher quality” (read: overly expensive) brands and will be a lifelong customer of NOW Foods lavender EO so long as the current quality doesn’t diminish.

I bought this oil initially for its supposed ability to reduce anxiety and have an overall calming effect and boy, does it ever. I’ve found that this oil especially helps me fall asleep faster and stay asleep, and this is where I decided that lavender EO would become a staple in my life. The dropper on the 1oz bottle sometimes takes some encouragement, but not much and I can easily place a drop or two on both of the top corners of my bed so that I can smell the oil but not rub my face in it as I sleep.

With my very first use and all subsequent uses since I’ve noticed I fall asleep much faster and don’t wake up as much if at all throughout the night. I put the oil down on my bed and actually notice the calming/relaxing effect it has on me, making me drift effortlessly to sleep. As a college student working part time and studying molecular biology, I have a lot of stressful classes and a busy schedule in general. For the past year I’ve been experiencing more anxiety and stress that affected my ability to sleep and the quality of sleep I would get when I actually managed to get myself to sleep. I’d have trouble quieting my mind and relaxing enough to actually fall asleep, so I’d be up for hours with my mind racing, and once I was actually able to get to sleep I’d wake up numerous times throughout the night. I was able to deal with it for some time but I eventually reached a breaking point this semester where I started taking sleeping pills nightly just to be able to fall asleep because the lack of sleep was affecting my studies and my ability to retain information and it seemed like it was adding to my anxiety as I noticed I went from having a panic attack maybe once or twice a semester to literally every two weeks. The sleeping pills only worked for maybe a week before my body developed a tolerance and I didn’t want to go down that road of upping the amount I took and I certainly didn’t want to make myself dependent on them for sleep in the long run, so I looked to more natural sleep remedies and found lavender oil.

And boy am I glad my research led me to lavender oil because I can truly say with using this lavender oil that I’ve had the best sleep I’ve had this past year and maybe even longer than that. I can’t remember the last time I slept not just well, but consistently well. Since putting lavender oil on my bed, I haven’t had a bad night of sleep once. I wish I’d found lavender oil sooner and from now on I’m never going to find myself without lavender oil in my life.

Although I apply a drop on both top corners of my bed every night, the smell does linger in the sheets and doesn’t fade away quickly or anything like that, I just apply it nightly because I prefer the scent to be strong as I’m trying to go to sleep. I’ve never used it in a diffuser so I can’t say how long the scent lasts in that. I also notice that the drops I put nightly don’t leave any kind of stain on my sheets. I apply them at night and by the time I wake up in the morning the scent is still there, but visually I see no signs that I’ve put anything on my sheets.

My next venture is to incorporate lavender oil in my shea/mango butters that I use for moisturizing my skin as I’ve read it can help with dry skin. I’m even thinking of putting it into an oil mix I use which contains avocado oil, argan oil, rosehip seed oil, and glycerin because I feel that that might be easier than having to mix it into solid butters, and I find I use my oil mix more in the winter when my skin is really parched. I’ll update my review if I have any significant results from that venture when I finally get around to it but suffice to say I will be a lavender oil consumer for life and will be repurchasing the NOW Foods brand when my current bottle runs out.

No lo volvería a comprar y es raro mis opiniones “regulares” Me llegó la mitad del producto, un desperdicio, bien empaquetado pero no fue suficiente y de alguna manera alcanzó a tirarse. El aroma no es suficiente y mejor me quedo con la otra marca.

So…I just felt I had to defend this product from what is more likely to be misunderstanding on the part of the consumer than a shortcoming of the company (Now Foods, not Amazon).

Look, I’m no world renowned lavender breeder, but I know there are MANY types of lavender. They do not all smell the same. Likewise, for example, German and Roman chamomile smell ‘similar’ but not alike. You will see plenty of folks crabbing about they got ‘fake’ or low quality chamomile because they got a bottle of German and all they ever smelled before was Roman.

So some of the bad reviews, I believe, from self titled rabid lavender fans, are due to this. ‘I know lavender; we had a lavender bush growing up, and this isn’t it’…well, that just means you had lavender breed X and this apparently isn’t that.

Always check that your oil brand lists the scientific name, the actual species/breed, not just ‘lavender’, ‘chamomile’ etc. You’ll notice differences in scent, and better literature will specify the species when it makes a difference (and for some purposes it DOES make a difference which ‘geranium’ or whatnot is used).

Lavender will also smell different depending on whether just blooms are used, or leaves, or stems, and in what ratio. That is not a flaw either. Some people prefer a ‘bloomier’ oil, some people desire a little more herbal stringency and want some stems/leaves. It’s not right or wrong, any more than telling someone who likes a lot of tannins in a wine they are wrong and you should only like a little.
I would say in my experience this particular brand tends to mix stems/leaves with blooms though not to a slap-you-in-the-face degree. And Companies also have to change their blends sometimes for one reason or another (weather, harvests, who knows).
Honestly, I would think lavender fanatics would know this,if even I do, & take that into account.

Now, the other major roadblock is that quite frankly, there’s a lot of third party sellers on this site that just shouldn’t be sheltered by Amazon. They are selling either adulterated actual product or downright fake.

People will buy the real stuff, pour most of it into other bottles, slap a label on and sell those bottles as ‘Laurie’s Awesome Lavender Oil’ or whatever and then take the nearly empty Now bottle,fill it with whatever, and sell it to us. Twice the profit for them! It could be water or canola oil for all you know. But it has just enough lavender smell to fool you for two minutes till you USE it and decide Now Foods are the dirty bums, not the third party seller.

There is, finally, the fact that if someone sold you oil that has been stored improperly or is old, it’s not gonna be good. Again that’s the fault of the seller, not the manufacturer.

I have always bought oils from EITHER:
A) a local business I feel I can safely trust, like a major grocery chain or a local health food type store that I’ve made other trustworthy sales with

B) a third party amazon seller who has a high number of ratings of which the vast majority must be positive

C) amazon itself, directly. Look at who is selling the item. You know, where it says ‘Sold By’. Does it say Amazon.com? Great. They are very easy to work with. Does it say ‘Biff’s Fine Beauty Supply’? Then see B above.

I don’t know what else to say. My experience with this oil and Now Foods has always been fine. I’ve owned probably six bottles of the lavender and all have been fine for me. I don’t think it smells chemically or synthetic; I just think those folks either prefer the softer, bloomier mixes or got an adulterated bottle. I own probably forty of the Now oils and several of their carrier oils and while I agree they are not usually the height of superior product to be found anywhere in the world, FOR THE MONEY they are excellent.
I have used the two major MLM brands (do not and never did sell them), as well as many of the major hippie-store-type brands (Mountain Rose Herbs, Pranarom/Veritidas, etc) and I’ve got to opine Now holds its own most of the time…not all.
Other oils are frequently five or more times the cost but are not five or more times as amazing, and usually come in a smaller bottle to boot. You know what, nebulizing diffusers go through oil like crazy…so for me, not a wealthy Hilton heir, these represent very good value.

2018: I still buy Now lavender oil. It’s still good!
Also, when people tell you, drop oil on white paper to see if it leaves a mark as a purity test, know ALL oils do not do this! Only ‘most’. Patchouli, sandalwood, myrhh, vetiver, German chamomile, etc, will stain paper. Do some research so you’re not a) wasting cash throwing out real oils or b) slandering companies selling real oils because someone told you oil is fake if it leaves a mark. I have had people tell me they won’t buy this lavender oil because their Now patchouli failed ‘The Test’. Sigh.

Vale a pena! Delicioso

This lavender oil is my go to for all my DIY needs smalls amazing and pure. Now organic is a company I trust and use all the time! Plus these bigger bottle sizes are great they last so long!