Minor Burns

Okay so it's been a while since I added anything to this collection of alternative health wonderfulness.  But upon accidentally spilling boiling tea on myself this morning I was reminded of a great natural remedy for minor burns.  

Ching Wan Hung

Yep, it's another Chinese herbal concoction.  This time, though, in cream form.  This balm is AMAZING.  I mean I really can't stress enough how great it is.  The first time I had the chance to see its miraculous power was when I burned my hand with moxa (a type of Chinese herbal incense stick).  I was stuck at school in a three hour long lecture and my hand was throbbing with pain.  Thankfully, my school had an herbal dispensary where they sold this salve.  I bought it and voila!  Within a minute the pain subsided and a wonderful cooling sensation soothed my red skin.  This morning a similar thing happened and I once again grew convinced that this is a MUST HAVE in an alternative health first-aid kit.  And the best part is that you can easily purchase it on AMAZON.

Spilling hot tea on oneself is no bueno, BUT if this is what prompted me to share some knowledge with you, my dear friends, then so be it. 

IF, however, the burn is so bad that even the cream isn't helping, then please go to the nearest emergency room and get a doc to examine your injury ASAP.

Soap

This isn't really a herbal remedy.  It's more like a folk remedy - a quick fix when out of options.

As weird as this sounds, there is a chemical in soap that helps sooth mild burns.  The key is not to dampen your burned skin.  Simply lather some soap with a conservative amount of water, barely enough to do so, and then apply to the injury.  

I gotta say, this has worked every time, with all different types of soap: bar, liquid, even that weird powder soap.  And it hasn't just helped me.  I'll give you an interesting example of when this random therapy came in handy.  

I was on an archeological excavation site in Israel and we were digging in a quasi-desert.  It was very hot and all our tools were beginning to heat up under the sun.  One of my digging partners grabbed a metal handle of a shovel and burned himself.  We didn't have any burn cream with us.  No bandages either.  (Come to think of it, it was kind of irresponsible of our organizers.  Not that I'm surprised.)  So I told him about the good ol' soap trick.  Being a proper modern British man, he thought I was insane.  Desperation and pain, however, soon sent him to the bathroom and he did what I told him to do.  Reluctantly, he came back to the dig and told me that it worked.  And crazy, I no longer seemed :).  So much for modern and so much for proper.  

And there you have it: Natural Remedies for Minor