Olive oil in the hair. Seriously it makes my hair feel like sex and it's super easy. Just comb it in when you're going to be chillin' for a bit, wash out with regular shampoo. It works better for my hair than any fancy hair treatments I've tried, and also curbs my dandruff when it acts up.

I love tea tree oil! I use it on cuts, acne... You name it! (Assuming "it" is cuts or acne. ) It's also great in tooth pick form, though that's not so much a home remedy as super fun to chew on (it numbs your tongue! It's totally awesome). Just be sure to use it a few hours before going anywhere public. You and I might think it smells awesome, Mister B, but everyone I've encountered after I've just put it on seems to just ask me, "What is that SMELL?" Why, that's the smell of me trying to not have a gross face! Thanks for asking.

Witch vera is also a wonder worker, but it's less home remedy and more just thing everybody ever should have. It's a moisturizer, a toner, cools and heals sunburns and bug bites and other skin irritations, is pretty good for massage and mildly sensational for other uses.

For headaches, mint on the temples is tried and true!

Lemon juice and tomato juice supposedly will naturally bleach body hair, but I've had no luck; the tomato did nothing and the lemon juice stung like a motherfucker.

Tea does wonders, honey does wonders (but think of the beeees ), water cures EVERYTHING EVER and there's an old family secret that's been passed down from generations for hemorrhoids: sit on a pile of potato peelings. Apparently it works like nothing else short of a hemmorhoidectomy? But luckily I can't testify to that. Say no to rectal bleeding, kids. It's a slippery slope.

Last edited by NajiMinkin (06-01-2010 07:06:29 PM)

chrisb wrote:The egg is supposed to "absorb" the bad stuff out of you, while I'm not sure about that it does cool you down and makes you feel good.

In my country that too is also a well know home remedy, but in here we use it to heal headaches.
Also if you have a cold boil the skin of a pineapple and add partially processed sugar (panela) to make it sweet, drink it every time you are thirsty.

Mylene wrote:

For a sore throat, mix ~1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper with 1 cup of warm water, then gargle the mixture. It's nasty as can be, but it provides faster and longer lasting sore throat relief than anything else I've tried (from sprays to saltwater to honey & lemon mixes.)

Tried this, totally works. Cayenne pepper kills bacteria. If you're like me and tend to put WAY too much and end up screwing yourself up, add it to pulpy orange juice. The cayenne sticks to the pulp, making it more palatable. And even so, I kind of look forward to spicy orange juice when I'm sick. Like a Bloody Mary for those who hate drinking tomato juice.

Also, do yourself a favor and go out and find Acidophilus at your local drug store in the dietary supplements section. This cures so much stuff it's kind of ridiculous that it's not used as widely as it should. You know how Pepto-Bismol cures just about everything in your intestinal tract, but tastes like shit? This does the same, but in convenient pill or chewable form(I think my Mom happened onto this when trying to find a stomach medicine for me that wouldn't make me vomit just from the taste). Acidophilus is basically just a pill full of good bacteria, and most unhappy things in your digestive system happen from bad bacteria overriding the good. And while we're on the subject, this is also basically what happens when you get a yeast infection. You know those kits for yeast infections you get at the drug store that are about twenty bucks a pop? You're basically paying for the same thing attached to a little plunger to get it up there for the squeamish. Using acidophilus tablets actually were more effective for me since I could judge whether or not I needed more or less, while the store stuff explicitly for it basically only barely kept it away until the next time I bathed. Bullshit.

There's something about clear sodas. They hydrate and calm one's stomach (through carbonation, yo! Like Alka-Seltzer!) and what vitamin C 7-up specifically might have could also help with a cold.

Acidophilus... Someone was trying to push that on me recently. But I didn't realize it was a good bacteria thing! My doctor's been all, "BLAH BLAH GOOD BACTERIAS AND PROBIOTICS AND YEASTS BLAH BLAH" so that should be right up my health-based alley. I will have to give that a shot!

Last edited by NajiMinkin (06-02-2010 03:35:06 PM)

allegoriest wrote:Is panela like piloncillo?
I see that stuff all the time if so, and I've NEVER tried it cause I don't know wtf it is. Some suspicious brown cone thing.

All the panelas I've seen are squares but if the piloncillo test sweet then it is the same thing, there are some companies that sell grounded panela or grounded partially processed sugar, companies like schullo.

Anyway my dad is a homeopathic doctor and he is always telling me that the panela is healthier than sugar, it sweeten fruit juices pretty well but after you try that staff whit your coffee I bet you would rather be a happy sick person than a healthy cranky one.

chrisb wrote:

For teeth whitening brush your teeth with crushed strawberries, it's a natural whitener and tastes a hell of a lot better than baking soda.

Been meaning to post to this thread because I used to have a rather large interest in herbal remedies (still do-- when Gio's leg incisions were swollen, I hacked together a brew to cleanse it and draw out the infection) but I figure I should post in the spooky story thread first, or finish one of the numerous threads I have going of my own!

But to go along with the strawberry thing, parsley will naturally freshen your breath.

Also, little known fact-- catnip is the handiest thing to have around your house. It's a natural analgesic, as well as a febrifuge, meaning it eases pain and can bring down a fever. Between catnip, willow bark, and witch hazel, you have 9/10ths of a herbalist's cupboard

Works along the same principles as using kaolin clay as a face mask. They're absorbent.

Myself, I use cat littler to give my car traction in snow

Quoted for truth, as for honey. I use it as a remedy on sore throat (about 2 - 3 small spoons a day). If you caught a nasty cold you can cure yourself very fast just by drinking warm water with honey and natural raspberry juice. Works well on me...

I use an antibiotic/antiviral/antiinflammatory called Wild Oregano oil for a number of remedies.

It's one of the few substances that can kill super-bugs and yeast overgrowth, and I think that using it has had a lot to do with keeping myself out of the hospital.

I buy a hand sanitizing spray that has it diluted in water with a handful of other aromatics and I spray it everywhere whenever I'm in the city, I use a nose spray with basically the same blend &saline to rinse allergens from the sinuses, there's an oregano bug spray that can kill a fat wasp mid-air, there's a cinnamon/oregano blend I add a few drops of when I brush my teeth..  And I take about 200-300 drops a week of a "super-strength" 1:2 oregano/olive oil blend for general health.

It's really strong, and the author I learned about it from warns people not to take it if their liver is already busy with more than two drugs.  Something about the carvacol (sp?) being hard on the organ.  I switch it out about 1/3 of the time for 8ppm nano-silver (compared to 2000ppm toxic collide silver) for antibacterial support and liquid calcium/zinc/copper/silver if needed for antiviral support, along with high-active manuka honey for general health.

This is all very cool, except for the fact that I've spent everything on this kind of healthcare that anyone else in their mid-twenties would be spending on cars, jewelry, vacations, etc.  I try not to dwell on that too often, cause it isn't like I'd rather be sick..  (I'm living with a condition only diagnosed in 5.3 per million people.  The latest treatment for it was innovated in 1936, so I'm very much on my own for figuring out how to live with it.  That's why I love/hate Ruka so dearly.)

Nanami's Rose Groom wrote:

Quoted for truth, as for honey. I use it as a remedy on sore throat (about 2 - 3 small spoons a day). If you caught a nasty cold you can cure yourself very fast just by drinking warm water with honey and natural raspberry juice. Works well on me...

I must try this as I'm still sick...I've been drinking warm water with lemon but I still have a hacking cough.