Tea Tree Oil

Windex to the dad in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is as tea tree oil is to me. It's the miracle oil! To some, the smell is a little over-powering, but I love it. Put a few drops in a hot bath and the aroma stimulates your senses while relaxing your muscles. Tea tree oil is a natural antiseptic derived from the narrow-leaved tea tree. It has been used for ages traditionally to heal infections.

My best experience with it was to cure athlete's foot. The first year I was a cleaner I developed my first ever case of it due to actively working for 10 hours a day, constantly getting my feet wet in showers, tubs, mops spills, etc., and it was HORRIBLE! The ITCH, MY GOD! It would literally wake me up in the middle of the night it itched so badly! The "leading" over the counter products did nothing to kill the fungus. I did a "natural cure" Internet search and came up with the oil. I bought a bottle at the drugstore and I swear to you it was gone in 3 days. I don't get athlete's foot anymore, but whenever I get a little cut or rash, I reach for that little stinky bottle and it usually does the trick.

Alum

I had braces growing up like most of us poor saps did, and constantly suffered from canker sores. The brackets would always cut my lip and sure enough a canker sore would appear the next day. I never found much relief from over the counter products, and to this day I still will get a sore if I even think about accidentally biting myself (and no smart asses, I don't have oral herpes).

I'm not sure when my mom learned this, but she taught me to put a little dab of alum right on the sore and it would magically disappear. Alum is a chemical compound like salt, and is most popularly known as a pickling agent. You can find it in any grocery store in the spice aisle. It stings like crazy but it literally pickles the sore. Hold out your cheek or lip, place a dab of the powder or granules (power is easier), and let it sit till your saliva dissolves it. Reapply about 3 times a day. That owie will be gone in no time, sparing your body of ingesting those extra chemicals in a medication.