Lavender oil for hair: what it is, what it does, how we blend it

Lavender oil is the gentlest-reading essential oil in the library: linalool and linalyl acetate, a clean floral-herbal scent that Soft Focus carries at half a percent, its low-strength setting.

Role	Essential oil, floral family
On the label	Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil
In our blends	Soft Focus 0.5%
Builder limit	Up to 1% of a hair blend (all essential oils together: 1%)

What it is

Steam-distilled from the flowering tops of Lavandula angustifolia, true lavender, the oil is about 25 to 45% linalool and 25 to 45% linalyl acetate, with little camphor (the spike and lavandin oils carry more, and smell sharper). It is clear, thin and volatile, with a soft, slightly sweet, herbal-floral scent.

How it feels on hair

At 0.5% it gives a clean, soft floral note that fades gently over an hour or two; at 1% it is clearly lavender. The blend's weight and finish are unchanged.

Who reaches for it

People who want a quiet, familiar scent on a lengths or scalp oil, and anyone who oils at night. Soft Focus carries it at 0.5% over sweet almond with avocado and baobab.

Where it sits in our blends

Soft Focus carries lavender at 0.5% (with Sweet Almond 79%, Avocado 10%, Baobab 10%). Open it in the builder, change any oil, name it and we weigh it for you.

How to compose with it

Essential oils share at most 1% of a hair blend; the builder allows lavender up to 1%, and offers a 'low' strength setting at 0.5%. It pairs with clary sage, bergamot, cedarwood or Roman chamomile over almost any base.

Compose with lavender Find your formula

Weighed to the gram and blended to order in New Jersey, with the recipe printed on the label. For external use only; patch test before first use. Every oil, with its INCI name, is in the oil library.