Forgotten Cures: Dry Skin

Dry Skin * Bag Balm: This was used for chapped skin on hands and face as well as it's intended use which was as an ointment for cow's udders. I still keep Bag Balm in the house because it really works better than most of today's lotions. Mary Stuart Parks * Try Vaseline for dry skin. It has always worked for me, Casey Dysentery * Red Oak boiled will stop Dysentery RD Ear Ache * We had a teen girl that was in our care, by court order. We were foster parents. This 14 year old girl whose family came from one of the deep southern states, came to me and ask for a cup that was disposable. I gave her a paper cup and ask why she needed it. Her answer was quite a shock to me. She said she had an earache. She would urinate in the cup and pour it in her ear. That is how her granny cured earaches. Has anyone else heard this cure? Rose Deal * Yes; my Dad (who is in his 70s) told me that was his mother's cure for an ear ache. (My grandmother was from very rural east Texas, with Tennessee roots.) Your foster daughter's granny had access to a modern refinement - the disposable cup. Daddy said he learned, real young, to tilt his head a little to the back rather than forward, because the warm urine usually trickled out of the ear and ran a bit. I like to tell this cure to my children's pediatricians and watch their faces. Marie * Yep...and actually, it serves the purpose (warm sterile liquid). The one I know of but never had the nerve to try was the one where you roast an onion and then use it as a poultice on the ear. Partially the same concept, I guess (hot liquid) along with the fact that onions and garlic include a natural antibiotic. Megan Zurawicz * Cigar smoke blown in the ear to cure earaches (it works) Roy D. Hurley * All thru my growing-up years I was plagued w/ ear-aches. Mom always heated some camphorated oil in a teaspoon, soaked a small cotton ball in the warm camphorated oil, & put cotton ball in my aching ear. Ah-h-h, such relief. Didn't take the pain away altogether, but surely did help ear feel better & made pain bearable. Mary * For an earache my father would take a puff on his pipe and blow tobacco smoke in the affected ear! No idea why it worked but it did. Pat Bales * When I had an ear ache, she would bake an onion in the coals of the fireplace and cool it and the put 2 drops of onion juice in my ear, with a piece of cotton to keep it in. Anne * When a child, I constantly had an ear ache. Once my grandfather found out, he immediately went into the woods, and found what he called a "Betsy Bug", which looks like some type of beetle. He said there is one drop of blood in its head, which he squeezed out, and placed inside my ear. I have never had the ear ache since. I understand these can be found under old logs or large pieces of wood. They are black in color and have a hard shell. K. B. Pate * Im 65 and as a kid had ear aches all the time. My Mom would heat regular table salt and put in a terry towel. It gets really hot so you need to watch when using on kids. I always felt it was the heat that put me to sleep. It was more of a heating pad than anything else. My Doctor told me..in a pinch...heat vegetable oil...test on the wrist, before using. This also gets very very hot. Use an eye dropper to put in the ear. I read once where a lady heated and just put it into the childs ear...Of course the child had severe burns and also went deaf. I could never understand how this could happen....heat any type of oil and it STAYS HOT. Rae Painter * When I was a small child I had a lot of ear aches, my mother would take a small square of soft cloth (diaper) and put a small amount of black pepper then fold over the cloth to make a small bag and tie it with thread. Place this in the ear and in no time the pain is gone. Larry Long, Drury MO * Here is one i was told about a couple of yrs ago by an older lady, and i use faithfully it works....Garlic is a natural Antibotic and I keep garlic oil in gel caps on hand and take it orally. I take 1000 mg orally but have been keeping a lower dosage on hand for this, 300 mg. I have used both mgs, You decide. But poke a hole in the tip of the cap and put drops in the ear with child or adult laying down so it will drain way down into the ear, cover with a cotton ball in ear. We did this on a weekend when we were unable to get to a Dr. My son hadnt slept in 24 hrs he was feeling so bad. Within 15 minutes of applying the garlic oil to his ear he was free of pain and sleeping. In 3 days he had no infection. Needless to say we no longer see the Dr for ear aches. You could also put a heated wet wash cloth on or a heat pad these both help ease an ear ache. I also add that if the problem continues that one should see a Doctor ASAP. Wouldnt it be nice if Natural medicine and MD's would work together. Gayle aka Stormy * Couldn't resist sending this in after reading your section on earaches. I didn't see what I thought would be a given. The Native Americans call it coning, but in Argentina, where I grew up, my grandmother would roll up a sheet of newspaper in the shape of a cone, with the small end tiny enough to fit in the ear. I would lay on my side, aching ear up and she would stick that cone in the ear and light the other end on fire! Then you just let it burn slowly and the warmth at the end of the cone sucks out any water or air, just as a fireplace sucks out the air from the rest of the house. Often you can hear the air rushing out loudly! When done you flip over so the ear can "drain" (and it does). I have done this to my children who both suffered from earaches when young, much to the dismay of my pediatrician, but also to the relief of my children. This really works and has spared my children many hours of pain. Dora Schwemley * When my daughter was little, we'd fly across country several times a year to visit family. She's invariably have pain in her ears during descent. The flight attendant would take two paper or plastic cups and put paper towels that had been placed in hot water and wrung out inside the cups. My daughter would hold them over her ears, and, bingo, the pressure-change pain would go away! B. Daniel * My youngest son gets earaches often. We heat a bag of rice for about 1 1/2 min. in the microwave, wrap it in a towel and he holds it to his ear or lays on it like a pillow. It works every time and pretty quickly. Carol Hawkins * Once when I was around 16. I got this horrible ear ache. My grandma put first heated olive oil then drained it, Then hydrogien proxidied (sp) once again drained. Last but the most important part is a whole piece of garlic with both ends sniped off. She put that in my ear with one of the cut ends pointing out then a warm wash cloth and told me to go to sleep. 4 hours later my ear ache was gone. I have used this on myself and on my son. Works everytime and very fast! Pru * When I used to swim competively, I would get horrible ear aches from the chlorine (swimmer's ear). I would always pour a little vinegar in my ear to take away the pain. Works like a charm! Tiffany * Put a few drops of white vinegar in your ear and it eats the infection. It will bubble a little but it works. For the pain you can use a drop or two of ambusol that you use for your toothache in your ear. Sherrie * I currently have an ear ache, and my father just got through with one. Ever since I was little, I have always been getting ear aches, mostly right after each other. When my dad had an ear ache, he used Sweet Oil. It worked like a charm on my dad, and it is feeling pretty good right now as well. It sooths and takes the pain away. Just put some Sweet Oil on a Q-tip and put it in your ear, then put a cotton ball in your ear to keep it from running out, and you should be healed in no time! [Jen * Another cure for earaches is to take take a bottle of mineral oil heat it up like you would a baby bottle. Drop a couple of drops in the affected ear and put a piece of cotton in the ear. This will make the ear feel better and drain out the affecting gunk. This can also be done with the sweet oil that was mentioned. I tried this on my friend's son when he had a horrible earache that made him scream and cry in pain, and it worked like a charm. Actually learned this from my stepdad. Don't get it to hot because it can scald if too hot. Charlotta