Saturday, June 30, 2007

Aloe

The experiment I wish I hadn't done --

A burn from the oven grate while I was working in the church kitchen. No aloe available. Wasn't that bad a burn. Ran icy cold water over it right away. Should've gotten the aloe from home, but had cooking and serving to do, so I didn't.

A couple of days later. A burn from charcoal. A much worse burn. Hotter item. Worse pain. Ran into the kitchen right away for aloe.

Watching those two burns heal was amazing. The second burn healed faster, hurt less, and left no scar. The second one -- the worse one -- healed in less than two weeks while the lighter burn took 5-6 weeks.

I learned my lesson. Take the time to get aloe on the burn right away.

A couple of years later, I inadvertently did the experiment again. (What? Did I not trust my scientific method the first time? Did we really need to repeat the experiment to verify results??) A stripe of a burn from the oven grate. (Yes, again!) Ran to get the aloe. Smeared it on. But the burn was bigger than I realized. I missed. I only managed to get aloe on half the stripe. Again, I observed the vast difference in the rate of healing. Two years later, I still have the scar from half that burn. The half that got the aloe, however, showed no sign of skin damage a few months after the injury.

This week when I ran the back of my hand against the oven grate (yes, again!!) I got the aloe and smeared it everywhere. I made a big ol' slimy mess all over my hand. The family had to wait an extra minute or so for dinner. But I have no pain, no blister, no scar. It's all healed already.

I think I'm learning.
And I hope my daughters have aloe in their kitchens!

(By the way, it does wonders for sunburn too. And I should make clear that I'm talking about real aloe: either out of an aloe plant's leaf, or store-bought 100% aloe. Not one of those creams with aloe in it.)
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7 comments:

  1. Presbytera6/30/2007 5:49 PM

    I don't have aloe in my kitchen but sounds like I should learn my lesson from you and get some.

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  2. Rachel6/30/2007 8:19 PM

    I have 100% aloe in my hall closet, which is two steps from my kitchen.

    It's only come in handy for the sunburns, so far.

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  3. Kirken6/30/2007 9:11 PM

    That is what my family swears by. My great grandpa burned his hand welding (second and third degree) and put a piece of aloe on his hand and wrapped it to stay and there was no sign of there being any burn on his hand. I had burnt my hand at work and was taken to the hospital the doctor gave me a perscription for a cream but I went home and got a piece of aloe and wrapped it to my hand and when I went to see the doctor the next week there was no sign that I had burnt myself.

    It is to be noted that cats will eat the plant though. I lost a beautiful aloe plant after we got our cat.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lotzastitches6/30/2007 10:41 PM

    I love aloe! We just got a second small plant from our green-thumbed neighbor.

    When I was in high school I was burned from a motorcycle muffler when I got off the motorcycle (which I wasn't suppose to be on to begin with). It was a huge burn! I put aloe on it as soon as I could and wore long pants for a week or so to hide the injury. There is no scarring and I can't tell at all which leg it was that got the burn.

    Just used it again a few weeks ago when olive oil shot out of the frying pan when I added the butter. Got the hot oil right on my eyelid. Ouch! Although that didn't hurt as much as the curling iron on my eyeball (also back in highschool). That time I didn't blink fast enough.

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  5. Anonymous7/01/2007 12:14 AM

    Susan,

    Do you use the aloe plant or do you use a gel? I have a plant in my kitchen and also some gel. I am curious which would be more effective. What brand do you use?

    Lu

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  6. Susan7/01/2007 5:22 PM

    Lu, the 100% aloe in a bottle does wonders. But my experience is that the juice of the live plant is MUCH better. I have a very hard time keeping plants alive, and recently my aloe plant was visited by the Grim Reaper. So right now I have only the store stuff.

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  7. Anonymous7/02/2007 12:32 AM

    Thanks! Susan,

    I have found that in the past I over watered my aloe. So, now I only water it about twice a month. Good to know that it may come in handy one of these days.

    The other aloe in the bottle has been in my cabinet for a couple of years. I wonder if there is a shelf life on the bottled stuff.

    Lu

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