Quick & Handy Home Remedies: Find practical, affordable ways to deal with some of life's most common ailments, proving that getting back to the basics has its reward. Only $16.95 +s/h
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Q. I listened to your public radio show and heard a man call in recommending soy sauce for burns. "How weird is that?" I thought. But then, as I took a loaf of bread out of the oven, the inner edge of my thumb and the fleshy pad underneath hit the metal rim of the pan. I expected a painful burn. Since I had nothing else at hand, I decided to try the soy sauce remedy.
The pain eased up in less than a minute, the soreness did not materialize and even the redness went away! It may be weird, but it certainly did work!
A. We wish we knew why this home remedy works, but we have heard from several people that it does, including an Army Ranger who told us that U.S. Special Forces medics also used soy sauce for combat-related burns.
Q. Just as soon as the temperature gets near freezing, my hands and heels start getting painful cracks in them. It seems no matter what I use, I still suffer. What do you recommend?
A. One of our favorite moisturizers started out as a veterinary product years ago. Udder Cream from Redex is inexpensive and effective for moisturizing hands and feet. If you want to use something even stronger, a dab of Vicks VapoRub or Bag Balm (another veterinary product) on the cracked skin at bedtime can also help. Be sure to cover it with socks on the feet or light cotton gloves on the hands to protect the bed sheets from the petrolatum base.
We are sending you our Guides to Skin Care & Vicks for more information on dealing with dry skin and fungus. Anyone who would like copies, please send $2 in check or money order with a long (no. 10) stamped (63 cents), self-addressed envelope: Graedons' People's Pharmacy, No. Svi-276, P. O. Box 52027, Durham, NC 27717-2027.
Q. Why do things like the flu flourish in certain seasons? Or, as my friend Jenny put it, why do certain viruses have optimal seasons?
A. Doctors often suggest that colds are common in cold months because during the winter we all stay inside and cram ourselves together in close quarters where it is easy to transmit these viruses. That may play some part, but we suspect low levels of vitamin D may also contribute.
In the winter, the sun is at a lower angle and people spend less time outside getting sunshine on their skin. When the temperature is cold, they are also bundled up, so that not even their hands are out in the sunlight. This reduces the amount of vitamin D the skin can make.
Adequate levels of vitamin D stimulate the immune system to make a compound called cathelicidin. This natural anti-microbial kills bacteria, viruses and even fungi. Having plenty of cathelicidin in your system might help protect you from influenza viruses that happened to be around during the summer. When levels drop, as they do in winter, all of us become more vulnerable to the viruses we share so easily.
Q. When my daughters got lice that were immune to all the lice shampoos, a friend of mine said that the health department had told her to smother them with mayonnaise. We left it on overnight covered with a shower cap.
The mayo killed all the lice and a repeat treatment a week later took care of the hatched nits. As a nice side effect, the treatment left their hair soft and shiny.
A. This treatment works on the same principle as coating the hair with petroleum jelly, but mayonnaise is much easier to wash out! We’re glad you had success with this home remedy.
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Oh the irony!! I work at a sushi place, and I've noticed over the past while, I had been getting a rash on my hands. After asking my boss and my boyfriend's mom (who once was a nurse), I realized it was a burn on my hands. I immediately assumed it was from the pickled ginger (I have to submerge my hands in the liquid daily), but, one day I was refilling the soy sauce, and I accidently splashed myself with it. That spot began to itch like my hands were before they got worse, and the rash, or rather, burn, on my hands was now on that spot on my arm that was splashed by soy sauce. So I did a test. I wiped soy sauce on my left forearm, and pickled ginger liquid on my right forearm. On both I developed the burn. It was the ginger AND the soy sauce that had been burning me. So, unlike soy sauce healing a burn, like it does for everyone else, it actually burnt me!