Cloverine in the tin can. Winnie Brower
As children we listened to our father tell about his WWI experiences -- one story concerned a soldier in his outfit who developed a very large and painful boil on the back of his neck. After reaching the point where it was considered "ripe", the treatment consisted of filling an empty wine bottle with boiling water to heat it up, emptying it and immediately pressing the open neck against the boil. We loved the gross description of how the contents of the boil erupted with an audible smack against the bottom of the bottle! Dorothy
Burdock Root: I had lots of boils when I was young. When I was about 12 years old, my grandmother told me to dig some burdock root, and boil it for a tea and drink a cup full. I went down by the pig pen where lots of it was growing, dug it up, and tried to drink the tea, but I could drink only half a cup, and decided it was worse than the boils. In a few weeks I noticed I didn't have any more boils, and haven't had any since. After that I haven't been so skeptical about herbal cures. Leon Plemons
My grandmother gave us sulfur and molasses for spring time purification of the blood to help combat boils, etc. Joanne H. Boswell
My French-Canadian grandmother had more than her share of memorable cures but that which I remember best was the application of a tiny bit of tomato avec skin on a boil or pimple that would not come to a head, held on by tape, or later a Band-Aid. Generally within 24 hours said pimple was "ready for popping." Howard E.Congdon
The thin skin of an egg to remove splinters, to bring a boil to a head, etc. Roy D. Hurley
Bacon poultice, was used for splinters and Boils , you took a piece of salt pork and a clean rag placed a pice of Fat salt pork over your Splinter or Boil and most of the time it was gone or come to a head by morning ...I remember my Granny doing this to me and it worked ... Verna
Two methods I recall for bring Boils to a head were the application of bacon rind or slab salt cured bacon and (no longer available) a black natural icthiol ointment. I have no idea what the source of that ointment was, but "icthi" sounds fishy. Charles Diltz
I have cysts come up on me all the time. The Dr. told me that I don't have what it takes in my body to fight them off. As they begin to come to a head, and are really painful, I boil a tea bag. When it gets just cool enough to squeeze some of the liquid out, I place it over the cysts and put a heating pad on top of the tea bag. In just about an hour or so at the most, the cysts pops, and what a relief. It works for me everytime. Good luck with yours. Debi Evans
My 1st husband's Father used to take a coke bottle blow cigg. smoke into it, cover quickly with finger, then but it up to boil/cyst & hold it there for a few minutes, and all of a sudden the core would burst out and hit the bottom of coke bottle. When my husband got them, he'd blow
smoke in bottle, have me cover it quickly, and apply to area, and it worked every time. Nyla
Bruise
When you get an injury that will result in the appearance of a bruise, if you will rub a bit (1/2 tsp?) of Arnica gel on it immediately---- NO BRUISE! Honest...really works..... Pam
Cold in the Eyes
When my youngest son was a baby he had a cold in his eyes. My doctor had given me medicine but it wasn't helping much. My mother-in-law said to me "do you want to get rid of the cold in his eye?" I told her yes. She said "will you do what I tell you?" Thinking to myself "she had eight healthy children," I told her yes. She told me to wipe his eyes with his wet diaper every time he wet. With some hesitation I did what she told me and in two day the cold was gone from his eyes. I have passed this remedy to my daughter-in-laws and my friends and they think it's great. It will work every time.Loretta Goss
When my babies gets a cold in their eyes I would just squirt a little breastmilk in them. With in a day or so their eyes would be all cleared up. Pam
Colds
Mustard Plaster: They would take a kind of dry mustard and mix it with water. Then they would spread it between two pieces of cloth, and cover your chest with it. It would burn something awful. Grover
Cod Liver Oil: To prevent you from getting a cold. Grover
Vicks Vapor Rub: Taken internally for sore throat and cough. Applied externally if "your chest sounds a little tight". Applied under the nose for sniffles. Dennis Palmer
Goose Grease & Turpentine: When I was a little girl my mother would save the grease from a goose and when my brother or I would get a chest cold she would take some of the goose grease and turpentine and heat it up and rub on our chests. Then she would heat a piece of a woolen blanket and wrap around our chests. As near as I can remember it would break up the chest cold. Diane McGee
When I had a cold my mother used to chop up onions and put some sugar on them and set them in the warming oven until there was juice. I actually liked the sweet warm onion juice and it was soothing for a sore throat. Dolly Yates
As a little girl, I remember when I had a chest cold..the first thing my grandmother would suggest would be "warm up the Camphorated Oil and then rub it around my throat and chest and cover with a warmed cloth." Later on it seemed Vicks Vapor Rub took over in place of the Camphorated Oil! Doris Goldsborough
My Mother was raised on a turpentine plantation. It seems that was the only medicine they had .It was used for cuts, burns, colds, you name what ever was ailing you and they would bring out the medicine bottle. Jinx Dopson
For chest colds, etc. mother would fry up a pan of onions which permeated the house and place the fried onions in an old pillowcase folding the excess around the onions to make a poultice for the chest or back! It sure got hot and caused one to sweat buckets but it broke any fever and thus speeded up the healing process....I think! Pat Bales
The worst was hot whiskey with lots of lemon - which, as I remember, I was never able to keep down - this wasn't tried too often!! Peggy
The "dreaded" onion plaster had many incarnations, mostly, crushed onions in lard, spread on the chest and covered with flannel. The victim was bundled up to sweat (it felt like stewing) and chest congestion usually couldn't stand up to combination. Dorothy
In Appalachia, i often heard of thick slices of onion bound to the soles of the feet for bad chest congestion too. Dorothy
To prevent colds my mother-in-law used to keep a pan on the old heat stove with water and Goose Greece in it and a bit of Vicks, it made the whole house smell of menthol but was nice and helped. Dorothy
Colic
A good standby to have is fennel. Steep the seeds like you would make a tea. Give 1/2 to maybe 1 oz as needed (luke warm). DO NOT ADD HONEY if giving it to a baby. Tinybbrn2
Complexion
What really seems "yucky" to me is a story my mother once told me. When she was in high school in the early twenties, the young girls would get a "wet" baby diaper and wipe their faces, thinking their complexions would be improved!! Doris Goldsborough
My French-Canadian grandmother had more than her share of memorable cures but that which I remember best was the application of a tiny bit of tomato avec skin on a boil or pimple that would not come to a head, held on by tape, or later a Band-Aid. Generally within 24 hours said pimple was "ready for popping." Howard E.Congdon
If you feel a pimple coming up, rub in a little toothpaste and it practically disappears overnight. Rhonda
Pimples can be brought to a head with hot, wet, washclothes. Don Ryan
Red Clover flowers(dryed ones seem are better) and Golden seal are both natural blood cleaners taken together
I can not say it will work as a cure)(**) But "maybe it will" clean up acne. One should make a tea (use honey to sweeten if nessary) Golden seal smells and tastes really ucky. Take 8 to 10 Red clover flowers, 1/4 ts Golden seal. Place into a
large cup (6 to 8 oz) fill with boiling water. Let stand for 8 to 10 minuets. Drank it twice a day for 3 to 5 days. Use as needed. Mike
Constipation
Castor oil: Most dreaded of all. Given if "you are looking a little bilious and need a good cleaning out". Also seemed to be helpful if you had been disrespectful (real or imagined) to adult. Dennis Palmer
Castoria, it was a children's laxative. G C Bailey
I grew up on cod liver oil or castor oil in orange juice. It was supposed to disguise the taste and go down easier. It was the annual cathartic or purgative that was to "clean us out". Winnie Brower
Back in '29 my mother gave me a small pink Calomel pill which did the trick. Later the treatment was Castoria. This was kept in the kitchen with the spices and was more than once used by mistake for Vanilla when cooking... Whoops!!!!Mary Kay Surguine
Eat a handful prunes or raisins, or drink prune or grape juice. A swig of mineral oil will also help lubricate the system. Rosanna
My Grandfather used 2 tablespoons of Epsom Salts to a glass of water for constipation. FYI it is still listed on the box as a relief for constipation. Gloria
Cough
Fletcher's Castoria; A dark, herbal remedy that didn't taste very bad at all (as I remember) -- good for coughs or "whatever ails you". Dennis Palmer
My mother used to mix honey in lemon juice and give as cough syrup. I did this for my own children -- they liked it, it seemed to soothe the throat, and they could have it as often as they wanted, unlike the drug store cough syrups. In retrospect, the vitamin C probably did some good. Dolly Yates
Grandpa swore by rock candy (crystallized sugar) dissolved in rye whiskey for sore throat or coughs. Charles Diltz
My mother also used the sugar/kerosene remedy for coughs. (A few drops of kerosene in a teaspoon of sugar.) Betty
My grandfather (Indian & southern) would give me a swig of peppermint schnappes for a cough. All that menthol , I guess, plus the shock of the alcohol to my young system sure seemed to do the trick. S & P Tumey
I remember my grandmother treating our coughs with a green onion concoction. She would take green spring onions and chop them up in a bowl and cover with sugar, then allow it to sit awhile until the juices from the onions and the sugar made a syrup and then make us drink it. If you liked onions it was at least better than some of the cough remedies available at the time. Gerald Byrd
My Grandmother used to put salt in the palm of my hand and I would just get some on my
tongue and let it melt there and that would help with a COUGH, and would work for several hours. Dorothy
Croup
My grandmother was a practical nurse in the early 1900s in Indian Territory. When my mother was a new mother, her mother-in-law taught her many of the skills and remedies she had learned from assisting doctors. One of them was for a baby with croup. A silver teaspoon was filled with whiskey, set on fire, then the remainder was cooled and given to the crying baby. Nina Hall
Onion juice & Sugar: After we became adults we were all home for Christmas and my niece was a baby and had the croup. Mommy mixed up a teaspoon of sugar and onion juice and gave to the baby and it did help the croup. Diane McGee
Rendered Skunk Oil for croup. A cold wet washcloth on the throat would have made more sense. That stuff was terrible sickening. Wilma
Horehound Candy was used to help stop cough when we had Croup, and it helped sooth the throat so we didn't cough so much. Dorothy
My mother & aunt used to hold me while putting a pan with vicks in it & heating it on the stove while holding a big sheet over all 3 of us cured the croup RD
Cuts, Burns
Pine Tar: Puncture and/or severe wounds were dressed with pine tar. Barb
Coal oil and sugar bandages were another of my grandmothers remedies for cuts, abrasions, stubbed toes, etc. Later, my mother's favorite cure all was Mar-Vel oil--a light, all purpose liquid ointment. It went on cuts, bruises, burns, scratches, whatever. We had 'progressed' from the coal oil and sugar. Nina Hall
Kerosene: My grandmother used kerosene to pour on and clean cuts and punctures to prevent lockjaw, and I would not think it would be good for taking orally. Joanne H. Boswell
"Monkey blood" - (merthiolate): Applied to scrapes and abrasions. Always with the admonition to "blow on it and it won't sting so much". Dennis Palmer
We had a family doctor who always prescribed for cuts, even dog bites...to bathe it in Lysol!!!! Doris Goldsborough
The very worst "sure and quick" way to stop bleeding of a cut was to pour salt on it. Talk about pain.... Betty
Another good one, spider web will stop a cut from bleeding. Anne
When we cut our selfs she would pour Coal Oil (Kerosene) on it to stop the Bleeding and take away the soreness... Verna
My Mother was raised on a turpentine plantation. It seems that was the only medicine they had .It was used for cuts, burns, colds, you name what ever was ailing you and they would bring out the medicine bottle. Jinx Dopson
For small burns: Keep an aloe vera plant growing in you home. Break a prong of the aloe vera plant off and squeeze the gelatin like juice onto the burn. It will stop the sting and heal fast.
Willa Dean “Dee” Sides
My grandfather (Indian and southern) would let his dogs lick scratches & stuff on his hands. Said they made it heal faster. Grossed me out but recent conversation with a dr. friend says that dog saliva is anti-bacterial. Believe it or not.
One night I got really drunk at home and as walking around bear footed.On one those needed trips of relief I somehow kicked front end of the door and ripped my big toe nail off. (ouch) To stop the bleeding was the frist call business and not really caring how it was done. I had my wife get some Cayenne Pepper and pour on the wound (see Back to Eden on Cayenne shown below under Remedies Available) in seconds and with out any pain the bleeding stoped. Cool huh Mike