# Oddest home remedies? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 9, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087 "2010-07-09T12:59:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/41 "2010-07-12T16:27:08Z")
My great-grandmother was convinced that the best way to cure an earache was to slice open the belly of a cockroach and stuff its guts into the affected ear. No one would ever let her do this, to her disappointment. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/42 "2010-07-12T16:58:16Z")
> [@osme](#): > > My Mom cured my brother’s bruxism by giving him a teaspoon of turpentine and sugar! _Cured?_ ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/43 "2010-07-12T17:38:12Z")
I have a ‘medical’ book that my grandparents got when they got married. Back in 1910 or so. It is called **The Household Physician**. It has some weird cures and home remedies. ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/44 "2010-07-12T19:34:16Z")
Our Dr. (an M.D./Naturopath) once told my husband, when he complained about a case of athelete’s foot, to pee on his feet in the shower. :dubious: DH was dubious (note the emoticon) but he tried it (get in, pee on your feet/toes, then wait a few minutes before turning on the water and showering.) It worked like a charm…his condition was GONE in a few days. Hmmm. Regarding warts, it has been proven that they can be cured with hypnosis: > **[Dermatology Articles (Diagnosis, Dermatologic Surgery, Histology, Prognosis,...](https://emedicine.medscape.com/dermatology)** > > Dermatology articles covering symptoms, diagnosis, staging, treatment, prognosis, and follow-up. Peer reviewed and up-to-date recommendations written by leading experts. So, like the hiccups (which I can cure in myself simply by concentrating…or rather, NOT concentrating ON having the hiccups!) it is entirely plausible that any number of odd home remedies would work equally well. I once used creative visualisation (a form of self hypnosis/suggestion) to get rid of a persistent wart I’d treated with OTC products twice only to have it come right back. I just spent about 5 minutes upon waking and upon going to sleep visualizing it shrinking and vanishing and being gone. It was completely gone in 48 hrs and never returned. (this was over a decade ago) Peppermint oil for headaches (applied topically to the forehead) is a remedy I have had success with (and a friend used it for migraines with great success). Just DON’T get it anywhere near the EYES, or your “cure” will assume the form of suddenly not caring if your head hurts because your eyes are on FIRE! I always wonder if that “Apply directly to the forehead” product contains it. 😕 And finally, I’ve always thought that castor oil was a very effective treatment for childhood ailments. 'Cause whenever I complained of feeling ill and my Granny got it out, I felt better IMMEDIATELY…just seeing the bottle and spoon cured me instantly…never needed an actual dose after the first one mths or years previous! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/45 "2010-07-12T19:45:07Z")
BTW, tea tree oil gets rid of nail fungus (vics vapo rub, not so much, ime). I had an infected toenail a while back and it knocked it out fast…perfectly healthy now. And I knew a guy once who’d picked up a foot fungus in VietNam and none of the treatments the Drs gave him over the years touched it…he used Tea Tree oil and it cleared up in a few months. (where I got the idea it might work on my little issue). Not exactly an odd home remedy, but considering there is nothing OTC that can claim to fix nail fungus and the prescription options are pretty costly, toxic and prolonged, worth mentioning. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/46 "2010-07-12T19:49:04Z")
> [@kidneyfailure](#): > > -For chapped lips, apply some chicken dung to your mouth. It’ll stop you from licking your lips (though, of course, the downside is that you’ll have chicken shit on your mouth). This was reccomended to me by an elderly friend of my grandmother’s…I’ve never tried it. > > -Buy a tight headband and use it to hold some checkers on your forehead when you have a headache. Works for me. Also, I notice that rubbing the area between your thumb and forefinger helps, too. > > -Rub an onion on a mosquito bite to stop the itching. > > I guess these aren’t really odd, save for the dung one. 😃 That reminds me of the ancient Egyptian practice of using crocodile dung as birth control…sure it worked like a charm! 😉 (regardless of whatever spermicidal or barrier effects it possessed) ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/47 "2010-07-12T19:55:59Z")
> [@Postariti](#): > > overlyverbose - Your grandfather wasn’t as odd as you think. Listerine used to [advertise](http://www.lileks.com/oldads/30s/19.html)that it was good for dandruff. > > I think my home remedy wins by being most disgusting. It’s an old southern remedy my father likes to talk about. If you have an ear infection take some urine - From another person! It cannot be your own! - and put it in your ear. He actually convinced someone to try this a few years ago, and they said it worked. And Lysol used to be advertised as a DOUCHE! We actually found this ad in a magazine and made some silkscreen prints of it…a little project we had going once with old ads, some of which are astoundingly amusing/scary/horribly offensive NOW, like “Feed your kids LARD” and “Lose weight the way the movie stars do, with AYDS” and, one for Bordon milk showing a cartoon little boy in short shorts bending over to get a glass from a cabinet, his butt sticking out/up reading, “My little HOMO boy!”:eek:😃 We gave our Dr. one (the Lysol one) and he was blown away. > **[Lysol douche ad, 1948, at MUM](http://www.mum.org/Lysol48.htm)** ---
**Author:** ![ThirdOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@ThirdOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThirdOne)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/48 "2010-07-12T20:04:14Z")
My mom gave me kerosene & sugar for croup. Yes, it worked. Also, 1 T kerosene in a gallon of water - shampoo hair as usual and rinse, then rinse hair with kerosene & water - prevents lice. The kerosene, being an oil, prevents lice from laying their eggs on your hair follicle. No, your hair won’t be all smelly from the kerosene (you do not rinse that out) and it does work. I thought of those from osme’s post 😃 ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/49 "2010-07-12T20:34:37Z")
I should add that tea tree oil also kills lice…several capfuls (a teaspoonfull or so) in a shampoo and left on for 15 minutes will kill them dead (or maybe it just stuns them, but regardless, they can be washed out easily.) And a capful added to each shampoo and left on for 5 min. or so will prevent reinfestations. No, I don’t sell the stuff, I swear. I just first used it to erradicate lice in my kids after using the OTC poison 3 times and it not working (they’ve grown largely immune to it) and saying no way am I going to use this toxic crap on my kids anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/50 "2010-07-12T21:07:23Z")
> [@InterestedObserver](#): > > I should add that tea tree oil also kills lice…several capfuls (a teaspoonfull or so) in a shampoo and left on for 15 minutes will kill them dead (or maybe it just stuns them, but regardless, they can be washed out easily.) And a capful added to each shampoo and left on for 5 min. or so will prevent reinfestations. > > No, I don’t sell the stuff, I swear. I just first used it to erradicate lice in my kids after using the OTC poison 3 times and it not working (they’ve grown largely immune to it) and saying no way am I going to use this toxic crap on my kids anymore. I wonder if it only works for some people or if some brands are deceptive. We tried that both for my SO’s toenail fungus with no good results at all, and then I tried it for head lice on my daughter but it didn’t help there either. It did seem to slow them down some, but what killed them was that chemical, either Rid or Nix, and the enzyme nit remover. I do love some tea tree oil though. Every summer I get a rash on my face from either heat, the sun, or whatever fruits I gorge on at the time. I slap a little Jason tee tree oil on my face and it clears up overnight. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/51 "2010-07-12T21:25:23Z")
> [@ThirdOne](#): > > My mom gave me kerosene & sugar for croup. Yes, it worked. > > Also, 1 T kerosene in a gallon of water - shampoo hair as usual and rinse, then rinse hair with kerosene & water - prevents lice. The kerosene, being an oil, prevents lice from laying their eggs on your hair follicle. No, your hair won’t be all smelly from the kerosene (you do not rinse that out) and it does work. > > I thought of those from osme’s post 😃 This makes sense because the stuff my Mom used was called RID to kill head lice and it smelled just like kerosene! My sisters and I got lice from playing in the chicken coops a time or two so dad burned them down. -The chickens were long gone. Kidney Failure, I almost hurt myself laughing over with the chapped lip remedy. :smack: I stopped biting my finger nails after my Mom told me to scrape under them and put it on a slide and look at it under my microscope. I never bit them again! It’s mostly dead skin and fecal matter and left over food particles and dirt. Yummmm! ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/52 "2010-07-12T23:34:14Z")
> [@Perciful](#): > > Kidney Failure, I almost hurt myself laughing over with the chapped lip remedy. Hell, imagine my reaction! I just mentioned to my grandma about how my chapped lips were bothering me one day and her friend up and comes out with, “You need to put a little bit of chicken dung on there!” I looked at her in stunned silence. “Does that work?” “Well, you wont lick your lips if there’s dung on there, will you?” I guess she did have a point… ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/53 "2010-07-13T06:25:05Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > I wonder if it only works for some people or if some brands are deceptive. We tried that both for my SO’s toenail fungus with no good results at all, and then I tried it for head lice on my daughter but it didn’t help there either. It did seem to slow them down some, but what killed them was that chemical, either Rid or Nix, and the enzyme nit remover. > > I do love some tea tree oil though. Every summer I get a rash on my face from either heat, the sun, or whatever fruits I gorge on at the time. I slap a little Jason tee tree oil on my face and it clears up overnight. Well, with the toenail fungus, I also cut away a lot of the icky nail, stopped using polish (which encourages fungal growth, so I hear), and otherwise made the area open and receptive to topical treatment. I guess like so many things, there are many variables involved. Re’ the lice, I was a preschool teacher for, oh, a few EONS, I think :D, and we got periodic outbreaks, usually coming in from older siblings in public school, and we went through it several times (my son, then 3-5, being exposed and his cousins who were living with us and in public school bringing it home OVER and OVER). I once thought of writing a horror story in which the protagonist ends up burning down the house to get rid of a persistent lice problem…that is how insane it made me for a while. 😉 I have seen the studies on the growing resistance to RID et al by lice dating back a decade or more, and have seen so many times when those products failed. After reading the label closely (again) while treating my son for the 3rd time with RID I said, NO. No more. I switched to the tea tree solution and never had any more issues despite periodic exposures. The thing with lice is this; they breath via holes in their sides and ANY oil that clogs those holes will KILL them in short order. So mayonaise, veg. oil, kerosine, tea tree, lavender, whatever, in sufficient quantities, WILL suffocate the little bastards. It is also an issue of what the human host can best tolerate and afford given the quantities required, however, and ime, tea tree acts not only as a topical suffocant (is that a word?) but as a poison to them. I have watched lice drop dead/stunned at first contact with the stuff. I appreciate your input. It’s always good to have as many experiences and opinions as possible, jmo. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/54 "2010-07-13T14:48:06Z")
> [@Postariti](#): > > overlyverbose - Your grandfather wasn’t as odd as you think. Listerine used to [advertise](http://www.lileks.com/oldads/30s/19.html)that it was good for dandruff. > > I think my home remedy wins by being most disgusting. It’s an old southern remedy my father likes to talk about. If you have an ear infection take some urine - From another person! It cannot be your own! - and put it in your ear. He actually convinced someone to try this a few years ago, and they said it worked. Ignorance fought! I’m glad he actually had a reason for using it on his head. That probably explains why he’d occasionally wash his face in it if he got oily - if it’s good for your head, why not for your face? And I gotta say, that urine thing is bizarre. It reminds me of a practice in South America - some native women wash their hair in fermented urine to bring out extra lustre. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/55 "2010-07-13T14:51:25Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > I have a ‘medical’ book that my grandparents got when they got married. Back in 1910 or so. It is called **The Household Physician**. It has some weird cures and home remedies. Any chance of an “ **Ask the Household Physician** ” thread? Because it sounds like there might be some really interesting remedies in that book! ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/56 "2010-07-13T15:20:01Z")
My friends say cigarettes is the cure for colds. One time, I had a really miserable cold and I couldn’t breathe through my nose for over a month. At that time, I had quit smoking for ~6 months, and I was so desperate I bought a pack of cigs and sure enough, it caused my sinuses to clear. Another one is nasal rinse. I was having recurring colds, and my medicines weren’t helping (homeopathic, cost $5 per dose.) I was again desperate, and tried nasal rinse…I haven’t been sick since (except one time.) ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/57 "2010-07-13T15:37:45Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Another one is nasal rinse. I was having recurring colds, and my medicines weren’t helping (homeopathic, cost $5 per dose.) I was again desperate, and tried nasal rinse…I haven’t been sick since (except one time.) OK, that’s it. I’m done. I can’t read this thread any more. I’m a scientist, and the strain of not commenting is killing me. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/58 "2010-07-28T03:18:14Z")
> [@Lanzy](#): > > My mom always made me drink a special tea when I had a cold, its main ingedient was Catnip. > > Its second ingredient was a shot of moonshine, with a spoon of honey so I went through most winters completely smashed. Catnip is a traditional herbal for the onset of colds and flues. The honey, of course, is soothing to a sore throat or cough, and the moonshine…well, it may not be medicinal, but I bet you weren’t so whiny and annoying! 😃 Tea tree oil is amazing stuff, but it’s also pretty harsh. I prefer lavender essential oil for basic skin first aid, and thyme oil for nits and lice. Rosemary essential oil scares the bejeezus out of ticks, I’ve found, but I’ve never found another source saying so…that’s just my personal experience. One drop on the butt and they scoot out and drop off like their ass was on fire. Oh, and, uh…if your herbalist ever mentions that a diluted dab of tea tree oil may clear up a wart, do not pour a whole \*undiluted \*bottle over your penis, mmm’kay? Just sayin’. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Stilettos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Red\_Stilettos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Stilettos)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/59 "2010-07-29T02:59:00Z")
> [@Tess\_Trueheart](#): > > > [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > > > Isn’t there some kooky thing about curing restless leg syndrome by putting a bar of soap under the bed? > > I was having major leg cramps pretty frequently one summer - growing pains, a result of my summer job being on my feet all day, who knows. But my grandmother said to put, not just soap, but specifically Ivory soap, under my fitted sheet, down at the foot of my bed. Not sure where she got this idea, but I googled it and lots of other people recommended it (mostly on so-crazy-it-just-might-work type ‘natural’ sites). Never tried it. My grandmother told me about this one, but she said that it had to be real, homemade soap. She had a soap ball about the size of a softball in bed with her every night. She did still get leg cramps, though, but “the soap works!” :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087/60 "2010-07-30T19:20:08Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > Isn’t there some kooky thing about curing restless leg syndrome by putting a bar of soap under the bed? > … There is indeed! Those of us on a RLS-related email list hear this one all the time. The only proven advantage is it makes your sheets smell nice. The scary thing is, some _doctors_ suggest doing it. Wackiest one I’ve heard is related to the breech birth thing: put an ice bag or bag of frozen pees on the upper part of your abdomen, and/or put a radio playing nice music down by the pubic bone. Supposedly the baby wants to get away from the unpleasant cold and toward the nice music. I never had a chance to try these with my breech birth, however. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-home-remedies/546087.md?page=4)