Herbal Household Remedies

banana, basil, black or green tea

• a poultice of ripe banana peel, applied to the back of the neck and to the forehead, will relieve even severe headaches or migraines.
• incredible relief from headaches can be achieved with a solution of dried basil and Witch Hazel Tincture 2 fl. Oz., used as a compress and applied to forehead and temples:  Refrigerate the Witch Hazel Tincture. Heat 1 cup of water, add a level tsp of ground dried basil and let steep for about 10 minutes. Strain, and let cool.  When cool, add 2 tbsp of the cold Witch Hazel Tincture, and use this solution for your compresses.
• Since both black and green teas contain caffeine, a very strong cup of tea - 2 teabags of black tea added to 1 cup of boiling water and let steep for 20 minutes, then drunk while still warm - will help you recover from severe headaches and migraines quickly because the caffeine calms the pain by restricting the blood vessels in you head.
• For a caffeine free alternative, an intensive chamomile tea treatment also helps you to get rid of migraines and severe headaches, but it will take longer.  For about 2 weeks, drink a lot of this relaxing tea:  Steep 2 tbsps of flowers ( fresh or dried) in 1 pint of boiling water for about 40 minutes, then strain.  You can sweeten is with maple syrup.  Drink 1-2 cups at a time.

Well, I guess “not drinking beer” is the first “natural cure for summer ailments” and many other ailments too, but other than that flaw, I think this article is interesting and informative. Enjoy.

Via: The Daily Times

ADVICE FROM THE DOCTOR By Dr. Victor Gong • August 13, 2008 Thinking of summer joys: Sun tans, sand castles, beer and crabs on the boardwalk. You may also recall the health calamities of sunburn, mosquito bites and ear infections. Fortunately, you can minimize the season’s downside with natural treatments. You probably have most of them in your kitchen or medicine cabinet; the others are easy to find in health-food stores.

Bee stings. Slice an onion in half (it doesn’t matter what kind), and rub it over the bite. Onions contain an enzyme that breaks down prostaglandins, compounds that cause pain and inflammation.

Insect bites. Don’t scratch, try baking soda. Mix one tablespoon of baking soda with enough water to make a paste and apply it to the bites. Keep mosquitoes and other hungry pests away by dabbing lemon-scented citronella oil on your skin and clothing.

Motion sickness. Ginger, taken as tea or in capsules, relieves nausea in kids and adults. Unlike over-the-counter drugs for motion sickness, it doesn’t cause drowsiness. To make the tea, slice a two-inch piece of fresh ginger root. In a large covered pot, bring a quart of water to a boil. Add the ginger; simmer for l5 minutes. Sweeten the tea with sugar or honey, if desired. Drink one cup about a half-hour before you set off on your trip. Take the rest with you in a water bottle in case you need it. Prefer pills? Take two, 250-milligram ginger capsules before you leave, then two capsules every four hours if queasiness persists.

Athlete’s foot. The fungus that causes this condition thrives when feet are warm and sweaty. Kill the culprit and soothe the itch with tea-tree oil, derived from the leaves of a tree that grows only in Australia. Some people are allergic to this, so test your sensitivity. Put a drop of the oil on your forearm; if there’s no redness or inflammation after a few minutes, it’s safe to apply a small amount of the oil to the affected areas twice a day. Don’t use it if your skin is severely broken.

Poison ivy. Relax in an oatmeal bath. You can buy Aveeno, a special colloidal oatmeal, at the drugstore, but the rolled oats you have in your kitchen work just as well. One cup of uncooked oats in a pair of panty hose; knot the top. Add this to a bathtub filled with warm water; soak in the tub for 20 minutes.

Sunburn. Help skin heal with aloe vera. The best products contain l00 percent aloe; buy a gel or a cream with it at the top of the ingredient list. Mix it with the oil from a vitamin-E capsule, which eases inflammation and promotes healing. Don’t use anything on a blistering sunburn; it might make things worse.

Indigestion. If that hot dog you ate at the baseball game didn’t agree with you, drink one cup of chamomile or fennel tea to calm your stomach. Chamomile tea bags are widely available. To make fennel tea, steep one-half teaspoon of crushed funnel seed in one cup of boiled water for l0 minutes.

Swimmer’s ear. Prevent this painful bacterial infection by wearing earplugs when swimming. But if your ears do get wet, don’t fret. Place a few drops of diluted vinegar (one-part vinegar to one-part rubbing alcohol) in each ear. Keep your head tilted for a few seconds so the solution stays in the ear canal.

apple cider vinegar, chamomile, onion

• Apple cider vinegar is a great conditioner. Just rinse your hair with it after washing, using a spray bottle. If you rinse the hair afterwards, you won’t even smell like a pickle until the hair is dry.
• The following chamomile tea works great as a hair conditioner, especially for blond hair, making is shinier, and easier to comb too. The same tea makes for a wonderful face wash too, so don’t worry if ti runs over your face while you condition your hair with it: Bring a pint of water to a boil, remove from heat. Add 2 tsp of dried chamomile flowers and let steep for about 45 minutes. Strain. Use when luke warm to cold.
• Another great conditioner is a tea made from onion skin. This tea will also enhance the color of your hair and even soften some of the gray hair if used weekly: Collect the dry outside skin of golden or brown onions (not the moist inner skins) until you have about 2.5 cups of lightly packed skins. Put them in a pan and cover them with 1 quart of boiling water. Cover and let steep for 50 minutes, strain using a sieve. After shampooing your hair and rinsing, towel dry it and then rinse again with the onion tea several times. Finally, rinse again with water.