My usual lap around the Internet frequently includes at stop at one of the big scrapbooking message boards. It's not that I'm joining in on the discussions that take place there; I just lurk. And it's amazing what you can learn there. Sure, there are plenty of scrapbooking and photography questions and tips on there, but over to the non-scrapbooking board, they talk about EVERYTHING!
Take tonight, for instance. I learned all kinds of things you can do with a bottle of plain old Listerine mouthwash...besides the reasons you'd normally buy it for, of course. Like sunburn relief. That one might be timely given tomorrow is a holiday where a sunburn is a real possibility. The recommendation was to soak several cotton balls in Listerine and wipe them over the reddened skin. I'm not sure I'll give up my aloe gel but I can see where the alcohol and eucalyptol (the primary ingredient) in Listerine might provide some cooling relief. It's supposed to work on all kinds of burns.
And some swore Listerine was an effective mosquito repellant...another timely tip for tomorrow night's fireworks. It would definitely be an improvement over the last repellant I bought. It was effective on the bugs but left an oily residue on the skin.
You probably wouldn't have thought to put Listerine on bug bites and stings either; I know I wouldn't. I haven't a clue why this works (or if it really does) but it reminded me of a conversation we had before yoga class a couple of weeks ago. One of the ladies said she had been bitten by a yellow fly, a local pest with a mean bite that hurts for days. She put a dab of honey right on it and said the pain and itch went right away. Out of curiosity, I whipped out my trusty Google screen and put it to work to come up with these home remedies for bee stings that does include honey. No Listerine but its close cousin toothpaste is there. And that last one...deodorant? Someone mentioned that on the Listerine message board discussion too.
I hope your Fourth is festive and fun and doesn't include the need for sunburn, bug bite or bee sting remedies. But should you encounter a problem and need a home remedy, check out the scrapbooking message boards...you just never know what you're going to find there.
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