Wednesday, November 03, 2010

NaNoWriMo Trivia Time


And since the words I write here don't count toward my required 1667 per day that's necessary to meet my NaNoWriMo goal, you're going to get a month's worth of useful trivia gleaned from the internet. It's good stuff, really. And as a reward for putting up with it during November, I'll be doing a contest every week in December and offering up some books and chocolate.

So what's on tap for today? Why, it's how to use vinegar for your health and beauty needs. I use vinegar when a recipe calls for it but beyond that, it just sits in my pantry. Now I know all sorts of things I can use it for AND save myself some dollars because vinegar is pretty cheap. Here goes:

Mix one-half cup or vinegar and two cups of warm water and apply to your head after shampooing to help with dandruff. A mixture of half water and half vinegar will help with oily hair. Mix one tablespoon of vinegar into a gallon of warm water and work into your hair after the final rinse. It'll help cover gray hair.

Add two or three cups of vinegar to your bath as a soak to relieve aching muscles.

Wipe age or liver spots every day with a mixture of two teaspoons of vinegar and one teaspoon of onion juice. This will fade them. This combination is supposed to work for corns too, only you take a piece of onion, soak it in vinegar and bind it overnight to the corn.

Mix one teaspoon of vinegar with eight ounces of water, add a little honey for flavor and drink as an appetite suppressant.

Sunburned? Rub vinegar on your skin to soothe the burn.

Soak smelly feet for ten minutes nightly in a gallon of water with an ounce of vinegar added. You can also wipe your armpits with a vinegar as a natural (and inexpensive) deodorant.


You can help avoid bladder infections by drinking a small amount of vinegar daily. I've heard cranberry juice works for this too, and I have to admit the cranberry juice is a lot tastier than vinegar.

Got hiccups? Slowly sip a glass of warm water with a teaspoon of vinegar. For faster relief, drink from the far side of the glass. (I've done this with just plain water and it seems to work.)

Dab vinegar on a cold sore to help relieve the pain and dry it up.

Clean your nails with vinegar before applying nail polish. This helps the polish last longer.

Apply full strength vinegar to a jellyfish sting to soothe it. And in case you don't have a jelly fish problem in your area, you can use it for bee stings too. A fifty-fifty mix of vinegar and water will help dry up a poison ivy rash too. And if, God forbid, you should get ringworm, apply vinegar five to six times a day to the affected area.

Vinegar can be used to prevent and get rid of facial blemishes. Add a quarter cup of vinegar to a quart of water and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, drape a towel over your head and hold your face over the steaming pan of liquid. BE CAREFUL since steam can cause bad burns. This will open your pores. Then wipe your skin with a cotton ball soaked in vinegar to remove dirt and oil loosened by the steam. End this routine by splashing your face with a mix of cold water and vinegar. to close your pores.

Mix one tablespoon each of honey and vinegar into a glass of warm water and drink to settle an upset stomach and/or relieve gas. This may also help with nighttime leg cramping.

All this sounds cheap and environmentally friendly too. But I just wonder how it's going to smell when you go to bed with your feet wrapped in vinegar-soaked onions and your hair, body and armpits rinsed with vinegar?

Has anyone tried any of these? If so, tell us how they worked. I'm very interested in the part about covering up gray hair.

10 comments:

Cheryl said...

Haven't used any of these remedies. I, too, wonder how you're going to smell. LOL Sounds interesting and should probably work. I might try few. I'll let you know if hubby decides to bolt from the odor...

Angel said...

I'm slightly less worried about how these will smell as how vinegar tastes. I'm not too interested in drinking it in water.

But I know one other fact: Meals made with vinegar have a lower GI than other foods (this means they don't cause as much of a spike in your blood sugar). So a dressing or sauce made with vinegar in it will lower the over GI of the entire meal.

Angel

Rebekah E. said...

We have used the vinegar on my sons sunburn before. He says it really works. I haven't tried any of the others though.

PM's Mother said...

About the gray hair bit -- cider vinegar,white vinegar or balsamic?

Linda Winstead Jones said...

My grandmother drank vinegar water every day. I have tried, and you do get used to the taste after a while. Not doing it at the moment, though I should get back into the habit. It's good to ward off bladder infections and is also good for blood sugar. Actually, it's supposed to be good for a bunch of ailments! That's it, I'm starting back today. A good apple cider vinegar is best for this. Don't let the "apple" fool you. It still tastes nasty. :-) -- LJ

Playground Monitor said...

Because the article I based this upon didn't make any distinctions, I presumed all these tips involved apple cider vinegar.

White vinegar though is great for cleaning coffee pots.

The vinegar drinks DID say to add a bit of honey to them, so that might help with the taste. And since honey is soooo sweet, I use much less of it than regular sugar, so there aren't as many calories involved. But if you're doing it for blood sugar reasons, you wouldn't want to add more sugar of any kind, would you. Ah well.

Cheryl said...

Apple cider vinegar is also used by the "old folks" to bring down their blood pressure. I don't know, by it's awful nasty taste my blood pressure might jump up. LOL I am with LJ I should be using it but ew, the taste. Might try the honey PM, couldn't hurt.

robertsonreads said...

LOL. Also, regarding vinegar. Put 1/2 cup in 2 gallons of water to clean laminate flooring. Puts a wonderful shine on your floor.

catslady said...

Sounds yucky lol. I think I'll keep my vinegar in my salads lol.

Problem Child said...

We go through a lot of vinegar around here -- mostly cleaning and laundry duty.

But the tips sound interesting...