As an African American male, this is a question that has puzzled me for ages. I can’t help but to notice, more often than not, that whenever someone (lets say a child for instance) burns him/her self, Right away the elders “mostly women” will yell out right away" Ooh child, let me rub some butter on that". I have no idea where this crazy remedy came from, but Butter is the WORST thing in the world anyone can ever place on a burn. Butter is an INSULATOR, It traps heat in. When people bake things in the oven, “turkeys, biscuits, ect.” they will often baste them with butter in order to make it brown faster. Where this crazy notion came from that butter heals burns is beyond me.
I was once told a long time ago that this “medical remedy” started deep in the south during the days of Slavery. Whenever these slaves would burn themselves, their owners would tell them to put butter on it, then sit back laughing while watching them foolishly rub away with this stuff believing that it would actually work. This stupid practice has somehow been passed down from generation to generation and sadly enough is still being practiced to this very day.
I don’t know if what I was told was actually true or not. but I do know that butter does not heal burns. and it really urks me to see women rubbing it on their children thinking that it will do some good…Maybe someone should write a letter to Orphra asking her to address this on her show.
Does ANYONE here know (and have factual proof) of where this rediculous and almost suicidal practice originated from…and better yet, how to stop it!
Being a nurse from a very medical family, I have always felt the same way. Well, I did until my husband (a doctor raised in West Virginia) told me the rationale for this practice.
It seems that the air moving across a recent burn causes a lot of the pain. Greasy things like butter (but preferably some antimicrobial ointment) keep air off the burn and significantly decrease pain. Yes, run it under cold water first. But eventually you have to take it out of the water and then it still hurts. Try it the next time you get a minor burn. You’ll probably be as surprised as I was.
Also, greasy stuff keeps it from drying out too quickly and helps protect the healing skin. We put various ointments on all burn patients in the hospital at some point.
I was once told a long time ago that this “medical remedy” started deep in the south during the days of Slavery. Whenever these slaves would burn themselves, their owners would tell them to put butter on it, then sit back laughing while watching them foolishly rub away with this stuff believing that it would actually work. This stupid practice has somehow been passed down from generation to generation and sadly enough is still being practiced to this very day.
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I don’t know where the practice started, but in Stella Gibbon’s 1932 British novel Cold Comfort Farm, a fire-and-brimstone preacher threatens his congregation that “there’s be no butter in Hell!” to rub on the burns. Conclude from this whatever you will; sounds to me like butter is probably a traditional remedy for burns and the version you’ve heard is propaganda.
Anybody remember that recurring skit on Saturday Night Live (I think) that featured a family of accident-prone people? They would come home with all manner of grievous injuries (arrow through the head, severed limbs, eyes gouged out, etc) and the prescribed remedy for all of these inuries was “put some butter on it!”
You may be thinking of a riff Chris Rock used during his comedy concert about the belief that Robitussin was a cure-all. Got a cold? Take some Robitussan. Got a fever, have some Robitussan. Broken leg? Pour some 'tussan on it.
To clarify the butter issue (nyuk, nyuk), it’s a very bad idea to apply butter, or indeed any sort of ointment, to a burn IF one is going to seek medical treatment. At the hospital or doctor’s office, the first thing they’ll do is clean it, which is a far more traumatic experience if there’s greasy crap all over it. Minor burns which will be treated at home can be medicated however you please. I don’t think butter does much – I prefer antibiotic ointment or cream, plus a bandage – but if it feels better, it’ll do no harm.
Here is an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary about using butter as an unguent… the quotations don’t predate slavery in the Americas, and “Quincy” doesn’t seem awfully enthusiastic about it–still, he bothered to write about it.
butter, n1
I. 1. e. formerly used as an unguent; esp. in the preparation called May butter (see quots.).
1643 J. STEER tr. Exp. Chyrurg. viii. 34 Let him apply the…Ointment of Sweet Butter thereto. 1718 QUINCY Dispens. III. xi. 476 Butyrum Majale, May Butter. This is made by melting fresh Butter that has been made up without any Salt, in the Sun; which is to be repeated until it grows of a whitish Colour. This is a very trifling Medicine, and of no use but as any simple Unguent, or plain Lard may be. 1753 CHAMBERS Cycl. Supp. s.v.
For what it’s worth, the inactive ingredient in most antibiotic ointments is white petrolatum, which has roughly the same physical properties as butter.
Another possible reason for the old remedy is that butter might have a chance of being cold, or at least one of the colder available substances. Much like the “beefsteak on a black eye” remedy.
My white grandma from Kentucky used butter too. Slaves and their decendents have a lot to be pissed about, but I don’t think a treacherous “butter con” is one of them.
By the way, cold (even icy) water is THE remedy for minor burns. If you soak a burn in ice water or under very cold running water for AT LEAST 20 minutes - and more is better, it will COMPLETELY eliminate the pain and prevent blistering. But the trick is to do it for long enough. I test the status of the burn by taking it out of the water every few minutes and letting it warm up. If it still hurts like hell, it’s too soon - soak it some more. After a while, you’ll take it out and it will hurt hardly or not at all. Voila! The next day you’ll have forgotten you were burned. Raised three kids with this method with 100% success.
Being a cook, I’ve gotten some pretty nasty burns over the years. Unfortunately, I’ve always found holding a body part in icy water for more than a couple minutes to be more intolerable than the burn. So I’ll usually just suffer with the burn. Got some nice scars out of the deal, though.
Worst kind of restaurant burn? Oatmeal. Good Lord, that stuff is like napalm! I’ve been splashed with 350-degree fryer grease that hurt less than an oatmeal burn.
Can’t say I’ve heard of putting actual butter on the burn in Australia. I’ve had a couple of burns, and the cure was “put some butter on it!” if we were out on a motorbike ride, and butter was most likely the only cold thing we had!
Butter is usually kept cool in the spring house. Plus it is thick and stays on the burn longer compared to other liquids. So if you want something cool and something that will stay put on the burn and readily available inside the kitchen or just outside the back door - then butter it is.
