Assorted Home Remedies
by Kelly Joyce Neff

These assorted home remedies are cheap, easy and can do no harm; furthermore, many are sworn to work well.

• Aching muscles from a bout of flu: Mix one tablespoon of horseradish in a cup of olive oil. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes, then apply it as massage oil, for instant relief for aching muscles.
• Insect stings: Apply a freshly-cut slice of raw onion to a sting to help draw out the poison. Hold the onion in place with tape.
• Athlete's foot: Use cornstarch.
• Bee stings: Relieve by applying a poultice of baking soda and water.
• Boils and pimples: Add two tablespoons of lemon to a cup of freshly-boiled water. Soak, clean and disinfect the area with a cotton ball.
• Burned tongue: Put sugar on it.
• Burns: To soothe burns, dab pure vanilla extract onto a cooking burn to keep it from blistering.
• Car or air sickness: Sucking on a wedge of lemon will make you feel better. But do rinse your mouth afterwards, as lemon corrodes tooth enamel.
• Chafed skin: Gently pat a raw slice of potato over irritated nose, forehead, cheeks and chin. Rinse with cool water to close pores.
• Clean dentures by soaking them overnight in vinegar, then brush away the tartar with a toothbrush.
• Corns: Just before going to bed, slice off one end of a lemon so that the "hole" that remains is the size of a penny. Insert the toe with the corn into the lemon. Put a sock on your foot to keep the lemon in place and repeat nightly until the corn disappears.
• Cough: Roast a lemon or an onion until it breaks open, mix a teaspoon of warm lemon or onion juice with half a teaspoon of raw honey, and take every half hour until the cough goes away.
• Upset stomach: Drink two teaspoons apple cider vinegar in 1 cup water.
• Fatigue: Start running warm water into a bathtub, then add 1-1/2 cups ordinary table salt to the bath. Have the water warm, but not hot.
• Dandruff: Pour on the apple cider vinegar!
• Hemorrhoids: Dampen a cotton ball with lemon juice, then apply to the affected area.
• Hiccups: Suck a wedge of lemon doused with Worcester sauce.
• Skin blemishes: Cover the blemish with a dab of raw honey and place a band-aid over it. Raw honey kills the bacteria, keeps the skin sterile and speeds healing.
• Hornet stings: Wring out a towel in hot water and sprinkle a generous portion of meat tenderiser [papayin enzyme] on the towel. Apply directly to the sting, re-treating the towel every five minutes for about half an hour. The hot towel causes the pores of your skin to open, and the tenderiser neutralizes the venom. If you do this quickly enough after the hornet's bite, there's no pain or swelling.
• Lice: Mayonnaise will kill them. It will also condition your hair!
• Migraine headache: Nibble on four or five feverfew leaves to relieve a migraine or any other kind of headache.
• Mosquito bites: Dab toothpaste over your mosquito bites. Make sure the bite is covered completely, and leave it covered for half an hour before washing the toothpaste off in water. Repeat daily until the bite is gone.
• Poison ivy: Apply a paste of three parts baking soda and one part water. Let dry, and then wash off. This also works on poison oak, sumac or other skin irritations.
• To prevent yeast infections: Douche with one tablespoon apple cider vinegar to one quart warm water; this adjusts the pH balance in the vagina.
• Arthritis pain: Mix 2 cups of instant oats and 1 cup of water in a bowl and warm in the microwave for one minute (or in a pan for a little longer), cool slightly and apply the mixture to your hands for soothing relief from arthritis pain.
• Quick treatment for a pimple: Dab toothpaste on it at night.
  Cough: Mix one-half cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup water, 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper and 4 teaspoons raw honey.
• Sore throat: Put a teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar in a glass of water. Gargle, and then swallow.
  Sore throat: Mix 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar with 1/4 cup of raw honey and take 1 tablespoon six times a day. The apple cider vinegar kills the bacteria.
• Sore throat: Mix a tablespoon of raw honey and the juice of one lemon into a cup of warm water, and sip.
• Sunburn: Empty a large jar of Nestea into your bath water.
• Sunburn: To cool sunburn, dissolve 1/2 cup or more baking soda in a tub of lukewarm water.
• To diffuse a boil or pimple: Add 2 tablespoons of lemon to a cup of freshly-boiled water. Soak, clean and disinfect the area with a cotton ball.
• Boil: Cover the boil with tomato paste as a compress. The acids from the tomatoes soothe the pain and bring the boil to a head.
• To bring a golden glow to your face, use cucumber and raw honey.
• Use bicarbonate of soda to brush your teeth – and whiten them.
• Bruises: Soak a cotton ball in white vinegar and apply it to the bruise for one hour. The vinegar reduces the blueness and speeds up the healing process.
• Apple cider vinegar: Cure for colds. Mix 1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar with 1/4 cup raw honey.
• Apple cider vinegar: Feel good recipe. A teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water, with a bit of raw honey added for flavor, will take the edge off your appetite and give you an overall healthy feeling.
• Apple cider vinegar: Guards against food poisoning.
• Apple cider vinegar: Helps fade age spots.
• Apple cider vinegar: Lifts painful corns and calluses.
• Apple cider vinegar: Prevents infections.
• Arthritis: Before each meal, drink a glass of water containing 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar. Give it at least three weeks to start working.
• Dry and itchy skin: Add 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to your bath water.
• Mosquito and other bug bites: Relieve itching by using a cotton ball to dab your bites with apple cider vinegar straight from the bottle.
• Sunburn: Rub it lightly with apple cider vinegar, and reapply if necessary.
• Headaches: Apple cider vinegar.
• Bee or jellyfish sting: Dot or douse the irritated area with apple cider vinegar to relieve itching.
• Soothe tired aching feet with apple cider vinegar.
• Hiccups: Take 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and swallow. It stops hiccups instantly.

About the author:
Kelly Joyce Neff has an interdisciplinary degree in Celtic Studies which includes work in cultural anthropology, history, linguistics, language, and literature. She is a traditional midwife and herbalist, a reiki master, and an active craftsperson. She lives in San Francisco. Click here to read more about Kelly Joyce Neff.