Make Your Own Burn Cream

We can get burned in many ways by things around our house. If it is just a minor burn it can be safely treated at home. There are many creams and sprays you can purchase but there are many natural treatments you can keep in your home.

If it is a 3rd degree burn, or it has infection or pus in the burn area you need to see a doctor.

Otherwise…

Here are some things from around the house you can use:

• Run cold water over the burn – not hot and not ice cold
• Use Fresh sap from an aloe vera plant. Just cut a bit of a leaf, open it up and lay it on the burn or squeeze out the sap on to the burned area
• Soak a piece of linen in whole milk and use it as a poultice on the burn for 30 minutes.
• You can boil 3 tablespoons of flax seed in 2 cups of water for 15 minutes. Cool the mixture so it forms a gel, soak a linen cloth and lay it over the burn. It will help form a coating and stop the burn from drying out.
• If you have access to plantain leaves. You can smash one and wrap the burn with it.
• Other home remedies include lavender oil, papaya juice, smashed mustard seeds, egg whites, potato pulp, and vanilla extract.
• Whatever treatment you use – try not to rub the burned area so that you don’t tear loose damaged skin.

Here is a recipe for a burn cream that you can make at home with the following ingredients.

• olive oil (Amazon)
• dried comfrey leaf (Amazon) – If you can’t find comfrey leaf find comfrey tea and open the tea bags
• beeswax – can look for a plain natural candle (Amazon)
• aloe juice (Amazon)
• zinc oxide (Amazon)
• lavender essential oil
• ¼ cup of dried comfrey into a pan with ⅔ cup olive oil

Infuse the oil with the herbs by putting ¼ cup of dried comfrey into a pan with ⅔ cup olive oil and let it heat for 2-3 hours until it turns green and smells more like herbs than olive oil. Just be patient and let it heat because you don’t want to actually cook the herbs.
Then you need to strain the herbs out of the oil. You can use a cheesecloth, tammy cloth, or even an old tshirt to let the oil through but collect the pieces of comfrey.. Make sure to squeeze as much of the oil out as you possibly can.

Next, melt 1 tablespoon of beeswax in the saucepan with the herb infused oil you strained. You can check if you have the right mixture of beeswax and oil by letting a small amount cool for 5 minutes. Once cool, it should be about the consistency of chapstick; if it’s still very mushy melt some more beeswax into the mixture.

Once you have the right mixture of beeswax and oil pour it into a container to blend it – or use a hand blender in your pan. the mixture needs to sit and cool until it looks creamy so you can blend the other ingredients into the cream.

While you have the blender on slow pour ½ to ⅔ cup of aloe juice into the mixture. You might have to stop and stir occasionally to get the mixture fully blended. Make sure it’s blended well and you have a pale green color but don’t worry. Once you go ahead and add the tablespoon of zinc oxide your mixture will be creamy white.

You can use the cream at this point or you can scent it with essential oils. Lavender is good for burns, but the choice is up to you. Remember that a little essential oil goes a long way.

You can store your cream in a glass jar or tin in your medicine cabinet and use it for any 1st or 2nd degree cooking burns, sunburns, rug burns – or any other kind of burn. You can also use it on cuts and scrapes – or, as mothers say – owies and boo-boos.

[sc:essentialoils]

Remember – these remedies are for minor burns. 3rd degree burns need to be seen by a doctor.