new use for vaporub

[LoreD]

I don't know if I'm in the right place, but the Home Cures forum seems to have disappeared.

Because of the cold I was developing severely chapped places on my hands. I tried everything; emu oil, chapstick, moisturizer, and the only thing that worked even a little bit was Red Bond cream. The chapping was really bad, the skin was cracking and it was like little paper cuts all over the chapped sections. Itched like crazy too.

I couldn't find my cream and was searching through the drawer with all my creams and pills and such, when I realized that the only active ingredient in Red Bond cream was menthol. I decided to try Vaporub on the chapped sections overnight. I woke up the next morning and all the chapping was gone and the skin was almost completely healed. I've been struggling with this for about six weeks and nothing was working. Every high priced cream only worked a little bit and then stopped working.

If you are outside a lot and having a few problems with chapping, give it try.

LoreD

[darwinslair]

<laughing> well, dont you smell like an old time medicine cabinet now.

But if it works, who cares?

My old way to cure that was to pack a pair of rubber dishwashing gloves with vasaline or hand lotion and sleep while wearing them. I worked on landscaping crew doing sod laying for a summer and during the day we used motor oil on our hands, and at night the aforementioned. otherwise your fingers would split from tip to palm. Amazing how the dirt sucked the moisture out of the skin.

Tom

[mnjrutherford]

Quick aside here, I have also heard that rubbing Vick's on the bottom of your feet helps control/eliminate a cough. Haven't had a chance to try this as we haven't had any serious illness since taking our kids out of public school. If anyone gives this a shot, please let me know.

Peapod, Kleenex hasn't gotten a dime from us in months!

[grunt]

Another good chapping fix is bagbalm. Originally developed for cows teats to prevent them from chapping.

[sandbar]

Jan 10, 2010 1:33:30 GMT -5 grunt said:

Another good chapping fix is bagbalm. Originally developed for cows teats to prevent them from chapping.

Here in the US, Bagbalm is available at Tractor Supply.

[bunkie]

Bagbalm can be found almost anywhere here these days, in the pharmaceutical sections. they're also selling it combined with other herbs.

jo, i've heard that about the feet too, but have never, knock on wood, tried it.

lored, what's Red Bond cream? is it like Gold Bond?

[LoreD]

Yes Bunkie, its a knock off of Gold Bond.

I found another use, I was getting a cold sore and I used the vaporub on the it and it healed immediately.

It seems like menthol pretty much heals anything to do with skin.

Lored

[mayfinnfarm]

The Vick's on the bottom of the feet definitely works. Have used this several times, most recently this afternoon on my 5 year old son who has bronchitis. I put Vick's on the bottoms of both feet, then put socks on him, put him on the couch with his cartoons, and he didn't cough for several hours. It also helps with clogged ears, just put a dab behind your ears to help them drain. We love the stuff around here, and after reading this thread, am tempted to get hubby to try it on the eczema on his hands.