Black Tea Bag for Bruises

5 star (1) 
  100%

Jasmine (Chicago, Illinois Usa) on 12/16/2010:
5 out of 5 stars

As the mom of a four year old, I've dealt with every type of bump, bruise, pinch, burn and cut imaginable. And for everyone I use one simple remedy. A black tea bag. Any brand will do, but makes sure its good quality and fresh. Great thing about it is, I can slip it in a ziplock back and throw them in my pocket, car or purse and forget about it until an injury occurs. Dunk the tea bag once or twice in hot water if available and blow on it or wave it in the air to get it to cool down. If there is no hot water, hot faucet water works great. And if that's unavailable, just wet it with room temperature water until the liquid coming off of it turns brown. Then apply as a poultice. You may need to wet it again whenever it dries. It takes the pain out, eliminates swelling, and quickens healing.

My daughter is so spoiled with this remedy, she thinks that "owies" are "fixed" by mommy and comes straight to me for any little hurt. If it's in an ackward or large area, throw 3 bags of tea in a hot mug of water for 3-5min, cool it down with ice cubes after and use a rag or paper towel to apply it (be sure you dont like the rag because it will stain). Its important to use this remedy asap. The sooner its applied after the injury, the better and more dramatic the results. After the tea poultice or compress:

(1)if its a nasty bruise, I'll dress it with a thin layer of castor oil and wrap it up.

(2)If its an open cut, I'll dab it with raw honey and cover it with a cartoon bandaid (cartoons optional).

(3)If its a bad burn I'll put the tea poultice over the burn, place a piece of plastic wrap over it and wrap an ace bandage around that. This worked for me on a 2nd and 3rd degree burns I received from a very hot lightbulb. It wouldn't stop stinging until I used the tea. I fell asleep with the ace bandage on, woke up 2-3hrs later with the pain 100% gone and the best part yet, when it healed it didn't scar!

Also, for those lovely times when your child slams there hand in a door or cabinet, I brew the 3 bags in a wide mouth cup, cool it with ice cubes (to a luke warm/cool temp) and have her stick her whole hand in it until she tells me it stopped hurting (usually 5-20min). If it doesnt stop hurting, I would know she may have actually broken something (although thankfully its never been serious). I figured out the black tea bag remedy out of desperation when burning myself years ago on that light bulb. After that, I began experimenting on my own cuts and bruises. Since my daughter was born, its been the best thing I've ever tried, and it has yet to let me down.

REPLY   5      
Return to Bruises