Make A Poultice You can make a poultice to draw infection, treat boils and abcesses, relieve inflammation or a rash or simply draw the poison from a bee sting! What is a poultice? A homemade poultice is made by mashing herbs, plant material or another substance with warm water or natural oils to make a paste. The paste can be applied directly to the skin and covered with a piece of clean cloth. If the herb used is potent such as onion, garlic, ginger, mustard, etc., you may want a layer of thin cloth between the skin and the herb. The cloth can then be covered with plastic wrap to hold in the moisture. The poultice can be changed every 3 to 4 hours or whenever it dries out. A compress is used the same way but usually warm liquids are applied to the cloth instead of raw substances. Tinctures or herbal infusions are great for compresses. The list of ingredients to use for a homemade poultice is endless! Onion Poultice- mash raw onion and mix with warm water or organic plant oils. You may want a thin layer of cloth between your skin and the onion. Watch a video on how to make an onion poultice here. (More instructional videos can be seen at the bottom of this page) Potato Poultice- Grate a raw potato and make your paste! A potato poultice is good for inflammation and eye troubles such as conjunctivitis. Mustard Poultice - Mash some mustard seeds, mix with natural oil or water and apply. Use thin cloth between paste and skin. A homemade mustard poultice is very powerful and can burn your skin if applied directly. Plantain Poultice- Plantain is a common weed that has great drawing power. Mash the fresh weed for the paste or use a tincture as a compress. See the Insect Bite Remedy Page for more information on plantain. Comfrey Poultice - Comfrey roots and leaves have great healing properties especially where bones and ligaments are involved! Make a poultice out of comfrey for any aches or pains. Turmeric Poultice - Organic Turmeric makes a great drawing poultice for boils and infections. For even better results take up to one teaspoon turmeric in a cup of warm milk along with using the external turmeric poultice. (Turmeric is also known as turmeric or curcuma.) Bread and Milk poultice - These work very well for infections and boils. Simply heat milk and add a bit of bread, wrap in gauze or cheese cloth and place on cut or wound. Use as hot as you can stand it. Repeat a few times a day as long as necessary. It works pretty fast and often much better than over the counter products. HOMEMADE CAYENNE PEPPER LINIMENT Add 1 tablespoon cayenne to 1 pint of apple cider vinegar. Boil gently for 10 minutes. Pour unstrained contents into a bottle and use externally as needed. This is a great remedy for arthritic pains! HOMEMADE HOT PEPPER OIL Add 1/2 teaspoon cayenne to about 1 cup of a warm natural plant oil such as grapeseed or olive oil. Mix well and apply to painful areas. (This could be one "hot" massage oil too!) Herbal Liniment Ingredients Liniments are incredibly simple to make. You need: 1 cup of witch hazel (rubbing alcohol will also work*) About 2 tablespoons each of arnica flowers, comfrey flowers, lavender flowers, and peppermint leaf 1 tablespoon each of yarrow flowers and dried St. Johns Wort 1 teaspoon menthol crystals 1/2 teaspoon dried cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely chopped Herbal Liniment Instructions Place all herbs, menthol crystals and fresh ginger (if using) in a pint size glass mason jar. Add the witch hazel or rubbing alcohol and make sure that all herbs are covered. Let the mixture sit for at least 4 weeks (8 is preferable). Strain out the herbs and store the finished liniment in a spray bottle for easy use. If you don’t have a spray bottle, store in any glass bottle or jar and use a cotton ball or gauze pad for easy application. Use as needed for sore muscles. Notes: Liniments should only be used externally and on unbroken skin. This mixture is shelf stable and will last several years. If you have sensitive skin or are using this on children, reduce the amount of herbs and menthol by half. Menthol crystals will easily dissolve in alcohol or witch hazel, so if you aren’t sure how strong you want your liniment, start with less and add more to the finished liniment if needed. Check with a doctor before using if pregnant/nursing or if you have a medical condition. *The reason alcohol is often used is that it penetrates skin and evaporates very quickly. It is also very effective at extracting the beneficial properties of the herbs used in this liniment and is used as an antiseptic (a liniment made with alcohol could be used on open wounds depending on the herbs used). Some people prefer not to use alcohol or find it drying, and witch hazel offers another great alternative with beneficial properties of its own. A Simple Oil Based Alternative I mentioned that I preferred an alcohol/witch hazel based liniment because I’ve found that they are more effective, but they do take several weeks to make correctly. If you don’t have the time, or would prefer not to order dried herbs, there is a simple and quick way to make an oil-based liniment that is almost as effective: Place 1/2 cup of carrier oil (almond, olive, coconut, etc) in a small jar. Add five drops of each of these essential oils (or any combination of these): Peppermint, Rosemary, Lavender, Eucalyptus, and Ginger. Please add your personal home remedies... read more: http://www.healing-from-home-remedies.com/cayenne-pepper-healing.html#ixzz5I50H4bbG Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
Mint is a very strong additive, good for pain, as well as reducing swelling, and makes a great stomach ache cure, but you MUST use caution, mint will raise your heart rate, enough to even kill you, so please be careful. My family owns and runs a very large mint farm, so I'm used to dealing with 100%pure mint oils. The best thing to do is to delute it with glycerin and then add any ingredints to a small amount as needed. We use mint in every thing, and I mean Every Thing! It's awesome for poltises, especially for itch relief and wound disinfection, and makes for a good natural bug repellent, especially when mixed with Cedar Oil! Far better then citronella! Happy mixing!
Oatmeal can be used as a poultice: Just water and oatmeal. Let it sit for a few minutes then add to an area that is itching. Grandma used this on me when I had poison ivy. She wrapped the poultice in cheesecloth to keep me from itching it off and spreading the rash. after reading @Witch Doctor 01's OP it certainly showed that healing used to be using what you had available to you. People couldn't run down to Walgreen's when they had an ailment so they learned what worked from what they had in their homes.
Mke a poultice of mustard, take some mustard powder and add water to make paste. Place this mustard paste in a thin cloth and wrap it. Hold this mustard poultice against your skin where you have been stung by bee. A plaster of mustard paste is also believed to help bring down fevers. Mustard (Extract & Poultice): Health Benefits, Types, Facts & Nutrition}
My grandmother always did mustard poltices, and they burned my skin. I'm more of a .... let's play in the mud.... kinda girl I guess
