8 Bogus Home Remedies That Will Never Work

Yay for Aloe Vera after a bit of sunburn, ice to take the sting out of an insect bite or munching on an apple to help ease a headache – we love a great home remedy here at Stay At Home Mum, especially ones that work.

But for every fab one we come across, there are also quite a few doozies. As in; completely freaking useless. Here are a few to stay away from:

1. Mayonnaise For Head Lice and Burns

via StyleCraze

While applying this combo of egg and oil to your hair may kill live head lice, but it won’t get rid of the eggs that will hatch into more lice.

Apply mayonnaise to a burn immediately after it occurs and leave on for 10 minutes. Does not work. Gave it a go. And in fact, applying mayonnaise or other types of food can actually breed bacteria and complicate the healing process. After a burn occurs, the most important thing is to cool it down.

2. Cocktail Sponge Bath To Cool Off

via baneandantidote.com

Mix together rum, lemon juice, and water, and then use a face washer to apply to your arms, back, and forehead. Nope. Also a clanger. Alcohol works to cool the skin so quickly that you begin to shiver, which works to raise your core body temperature. If you add ice and a fancy umbrella it’s a cocktail!

3. Get Rid Of Headaches, With A Wet Bandanna

Pour rubbing alcohol into a bowl, wet the bandanna in the alcohol and then tie it tightly around your head. It doesn’t work. Although there might be some comfort in cooling your forehead, the fumes of the alcohol can actually worsen your headache. Additionally, high levels of alcohol absorbed through the skin and may cause nausea.

4. Butter Up A Burn

via AllRemedies

So Wrong. While it seems like cold sensation of butter would relieve pain, butter actually holds heat in. It also can create an environment for bacteria to grow, which could lead to an infection. I will never forget seeing this as a kid. Even then I knew it was crackers.

5. Urine Cures Acne

via Daily Express

No. It. Does. Not. Early American settlers had some pretty strange notions when it came to eradicating acne. One involved the application of urine to the outbreaks.

6. Dirty Socks To Cure a Sore Throat

via Smosh

An English ‘cure’ used widely until the 20th century required wrapping your own dirty socks around your throat. Another English treatment involved wrapping bacon around the throat before bedtime. I didn’t even try these – obviously.

7. Chocolate Dipped Garlic Cures Memory Loss

via Smosh

An old memory boosting remedy calls for dipping garlic cloves in chocolate and eating one to three of them a day. In theory, this makes sense “” the garlic and the chocolate are loaded with the kind of antioxidants that protect brain cells. But still. No thanks “” we’ll have a cup of tea with our chocolates instead please.

8. Eggs Cure Bruises

via Authority Remedies

This ancient Chinese treatment is somewhat effective, but can leave egg on your face. You need two things: a silver coin and a peeled, freshly hard-boiled egg. Slip the coin vertically all the way into the egg until its top edge is even with the top of the egg. Place the warm (not hot) egg on the bruise and leave it there for 30 minutes. This is said to immediately erase the discoloration. The problem mainly is, who has silver dollars laying around? What are we, pirates?

So there’s eight of the worst home remedies we’ve found. Have you tried any that were just plain hopeless? Please – let us all know!

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