Natural Cures for a Safe and Fun Summer!

Sunburn
Skin will continue to burn until cold water or ice is applied, so always cool down the burn immediately! Ice is suggested for most burns, but severe burns can sometimes only tolerate cool water. Stay away from over-the-counter sunburn sprays and creams - some of these contain lanolin, which actually causes increased pain once the cool cream or spray is warmed by the heat of your body. Aloe Vera products are often just lanolin with a touch of aloe added, so caution should be taken before using these. Even pure aloe from a fresh plant does little to prevent peeling once the burn begins to heal.
Instead, try Lavender Essential Oil, it is a miraculous all natural cure for sunburn! You want to be careful to not touch the burned area and risk agitating even more, instead drip the oil on, then spread it gently with a tissue or cotton ball. Within half hour or less, the pain should be gone. The pain should not return unless you jump in the shower or return swimming too soon after application. You may need to reapply the oil in the morning. There should be no blistering or peeling, and your skin should retain it's new tanned color!

Light Bruising
Use a cotton cloth soaked in natural apple cider vinegar and cold water as a compress. Leave on the bruised area until the body heat makes the compress warm. Re-apply two to three times. Bruise should disappear within 48 hours.

Muscle Strain
Applying ice to the effected muscle during the first 24 hours after a strain can mean the difference between feeling fine in a few hours and being laid up for a week or two! Put ice into a plastic zipper bag and put the ice on the hurting muscle - with a small, thin, towel between you and the bag of ice. Leave the ice on for no more than 20 minutes at a time, alternating with no ice for 20 minutes (on, off, on, off) several times during the day. Remember - Using heat during the first 24 hours will increase swelling and cause more pain! For an injury over 24 hours old: add two cups of natural apple cider vinegar to your cool bath water and soak for a half hour. The potassium in the vinegar helps the muscles.

Chigger Bites
Sometimes called "no see em's" these bites are something you will certainly feel! When you have been bitten, take a shower first then try rubbing the bitten area with pure castor oil. Grow the herb pennyroyal (a member of the mint family) and use the leaves by crushing them in your hands then rubbing it on your skin. Apply a poultice of cooked and cooled oatmeal. You may also ease the pain and itching of chigger bites, by rubbing them with a moist aspirin tablet.

Bites and Stings
If a stinger is still in the skin, it must be removed carefully - or it can break off and leave the dangerous poison pumping tip in the skin. The best removal is to flick the stinger off. Immediately wash the area with soap and water, followed by an application of hydrogen peroxide or alcohol to get rid of the germs. Hydrogen peroxide does not sting at all but cleans just as well if not better. Ice can be applied for swelling.

Immediate relief for a bug or mosquito bite, bee sting or wasp sting can be attained from applying a paste made of meat tenderizer and a little water. If it happens to be available, a pinch of tobacco and water can also be used. Leaving this on for at least a half hour will take away the pain and itch. Other aids are mixing straight natural apple cider vinegar with baking soda to make a paste and applying to the bitten area. To repel insects, take daily supplements of Vitamin B1or brewer's yeast, zinc, or garlic (you can get odorless garlic). Remember, perfumes, hair spray, and bright colors attract insects!

Poison Oak or Ivy
If you know you have touched poison oak or poison ivy, you should wash the area with soap and water, then rinse, and repeat at least two times! This will remove most if not all of the poison. The same treatment can also be done with rubbing alcohol. Where soap or alcohol is not available, rinsing over and over will at least get rid of some of the poison. Once the rash appears, you can get immediate relief from rubbing it with the rind of a watermelon, lemons, a banana skin, or oranges. If itching continues, you can use a paste of water and either baking soda or cornstarch. A good old fashioned oatmeal bath (1 cup Quick oats poured into cool bath water) also helps relieve the itching.

Removing a splinter or thorn
For thorns, use a piece of pantyhose to snag and pull them out. Works great for small thorns like those of cactus. To get out a deeply embedded splinter apply a slice of fresh onion or tomato. Repeat this process several times a day, and within 2 days the splinter will rise to the surface of the skin. Another method is to use a bread/milk poultice. Put a small piece of bread over the splinter and moisten the bread with milk. Wrap the area to keep the poultice in place. This may have to be repeated a few times. Either way, the splinter will be drawn to the skin surface within 2 days for easy removal. If all else fails, you can always apply ice to the area to numb the nerves and use the old sterile needle and tweezers!

Nose Bleed
Sit in an upright position and pinch the lower end of the nose (the soft fleshy part) closed for 5 to 15 minutes continuously. When the bleeding has stopped, breathe through your mouth for a while. Do not blow your nose or remove any clots for the next four hours.

In rare cases, pinching the nose is not enough to stop the bleeding. In those cases, you can sniff some Yarrow Powder. This helps the blood to clot, heals mucous membranes, and reduces inflammation. WARNING: Pregnant women should avoid this herb as it may induce uterine bleeding or miscarriage!! People with hay fever should not use Yarrow since it may cause a serious allergic reaction.

Hang Over
Drinking robs your body of B vitamins and causes dehydration. So, take Vitamin B Complex? with a full glass of water before you go to bed to prevent most of the hangover symptoms. Besides being hydrating, water will give you a head start on diluting the alcohol. Fructose helps your body burn the alcohol faster. Drink fruit juice or swallow some honey when you get up in the morning to get rid of any remaining alcohol quicker. Alcohol also causes your blood vessels to dilate, resulting in that nasty headache the morning after. Coffee in the morning will constrict the blood vessels and therefore reduce the pounding headache. A few strong cups of tea with honey will give you water, caffeine, and fructose all at once. Caffeine also acts as a diuretic, giving you an extra reason to take in a lot of fluids.

Ice Cream Headache - or Brain Freeze
When you eat ice cream or drink an icy drink too quickly, you can get Brain Freeze, which results in a monstrous head pain. Just put your thumb inside your mouth (like you are going to suck your thumb), and press on the roof of your mouth - right behind your teeth. The pain will go away immediately.

Minor Cuts and Scrapes
Apply raw honey and cover with a bandage. With a small cut, the pain from the cut is gone after about 30 minutes. Raw honey has been used for over 2,000 years to prevent and heal infections. (Raw honey is available in most grocery stores.) Raw honey when applied to a small cut that has became infected when left on overnight, will relieve the pain and remove the infection by morning.

Swimmer's Ear
For the pain, put a cup of table salt in the microwave for 2 minutes. Use coarse salt and dump it into a thick sock. The sock is to prevent burns. Apply the sock to the painful ear and it draws fluid out of the ear, and improves circulation - which will help reduce swelling and its pain. Use a hair dryer, on a low setting so that it will not burn the skin, to dry as much moisture as possible inside the ear. Keeping the dryer moving will also help to keep the ear from feeling too hot.

Heat Exhaustion
If you feel dizzy and/or stop sweating, you could be in trouble! Quit all activity and get out of the sun fast! Drink cool, not cold, water with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in it. The vinegar helps to replace electrolytes and minerals like sports drinks do. Drinking Raspberry Tea or Peppermint Tea produces a natural cooling effect on your overheated system. Putting a washcloth wet with cool water onto the back of the neck and the fronts of the wrists will cool the body down quickly. In the event any of these symptoms are accompanied by disorientation, tingling, numbness, or tunnel vision - call for help immediately, as these could be symptoms of a heat stroke!