The last time I took my kids to a water park, I ended up neglecting to put sunscreen on my entire body. It wasn’t that hot of a day so I wasn’t as diligent about it, and I ended up with a pretty good burn on my back and shoulders. I need a recipe for healing burns!

The same weekend I found out about a little girl, toddler age, who had been badly burned on her hand. Her mother had tried the conventional treatment and the burn was not healing very fast. As I treated my own sunburn it made me reflect on the differences between natural and conventional treatments for burns. To be completely honest, I don’t believe that conventional treatments are very good for burns. Dr. John Christopher, an old-time herbalist, tells a classic story about two boys who were badly burned playing with a fire and some gasoline. Their hands got it the worst and both of the parents took them to the hospital. The doctors told them they would need several surgeries and might not regain the full function of their hands. One set of parents decided to take their son to see Dr. Christopher and go to the natural route.

Burn Paste

Dr. Christopher mixed up some burn paste for them and told them to apply it to their son’s hands a couple times today and keep the bandages moist, so it wouldn’t dry out. The paste was messy, but they used it and it worked. Their son’s hands healed back to normal with in a few weeks. The other boy endured multiple surgeries and ended up with hands that did not function and were more like claws.

A friend of mine told me a story of how she treated her friend’s daughter with the burn paste after the toddler had climbed up on the kitchen counter, and walked across a hot stove in her bare feet. It was a third-degree burn and they immediately applied the burn paste as soon as they could make it up. Her feet healed very quickly without too much pain.

Lavender Essential Oil

Lavender essential oil was known for healing burns fast. In fact, the man who coined the term “aromatherapy” was a French perfumer. One day he burned his arm badly and stuck it in the nearest liquid he could find. It was a pot of lavender liquid. He was amazed at how fast the pain went away and healing happened for him, so he dedicated the rest of his life to studying the healing power of plants and their essential oils.

I have a friend who got minor burns on her wrists last year, and used frankincense oil on it. Afterwards there were no remaining scars.

I also love Aloe Vera for burns. Since I did not have Aloe Vera with me to put on my burn, I mixed fractionated coconut oil, a few drops of lavender and peppermint essential oil and applied that to my burn. It immediately took the heat and pain out of my burn, and made me more comfortable. Three days later, most of the burn and pain was gone.

If you want herbal support for minor burns, I would use the burn paste with essential oil.

Burn Paste Recipe

Equal Part of the following together:
Comfrey Powder
Raw Honey
Wheat Germ Oil

1. Add two drops of high quality lavender and 1 drop of peppermint essential oil per tablespoon of paste
2. Apply with gauze covering it for several hours
3. Take gauze off and let it air dry for several hours

So, make sure you have these ingredients in your home remedy cupboard. The wheat germ oil will last much longer if you refrigerate it.

I also recommend a great book by John W. Keim called Comfort For the Burned and Wounded ($14.95). He talks about how natural treatments can be more effective than conventional treatments and he also sites case studies to support his claims.

To your home remedy empowerment!