How to use herbals for bandages, after you have them in hand.

I recently gave a bottle of comfrey tincture to a Lady to help her heal. I called days later, and she hadn't used it because she didn't know how. It seems to be a common problem, so it made sense to do a post on it to try to help others too.

First of all, there are many herbal preparations that can be used to treat problems, in fact; too many to address here, but I will give passing mention to some, while I'm passing.

Most people know of a poultice using fresh plants that are crushed, chewed, or ground; and applied directly to a problem area. These are usually covered with some form of bandage, to retain the skin contact. It also aids in changing the plant material which can need frequent replacement.

I won't address them here, because most people can figure that out. Also, fresh plant matter is hard to come by, at times! Most of the herbals I use on the winter, are either powdered of tinctured; as a method of preservation at the peace of potency. One I use often can't be taken internally (arnica taken internally causes tachycardia), so it is processed with isopropyl alcohol to form a lineament.

Here is my personally preferred method of using liquid herbals. I use what is described as a fomentation, which is basically a police with liquid herbals. It can be heated with caution, because some of the herbs are pretty aggressive when heated. I prefer to use room temperature over a longer timeframe.

First , find a convenient cloth to hold the liquid, I like the small makeup removal pads; because they are designed to absorb well, and they are soft on skin.

Next I use packing tape to provide a moisture barrier, because fomentations work best when they stay wet. I place the selected cloth (or pad) on the parking tape like this:

Then I cut them apart, and trim off the excess packing tape:

When I use this pad, I just add paper tape like this:

A word of caution here, since fomentations often must be used for days; you need to protect your skin; that will be under the tape:

I'm not specifically recommending this brand, although it does work well. But there are a number of good skin protectors for sale! I use an alcohol prep pad to clean the area of oil, so thing can stick. Then I use the skin preparation which add a harmless layer for the tape to adhere to, while protecting the skin underneath!

Next, the liquid of choice is loaded into the pad:

In this case it's comfrey tincture. I have use various herbal infusions (teas), castor oil, lineaments, and tinctures on these fomentation bandages.

The loaded pad is then applied where needed:

I sometimes add an elastic bandage over this assembly, if I think it needs extra protection. This was treating carpel tunnel problems here....

You can see the tincture through the packing tape backing:

This allows me to monitor the amount of tincture liquid left in the pad. Also, you can reuse this pad for about 3 days (obviously on the same person); because the dried herb left on the pad will make the next use stronger. Just cut away the previous tape, add new, and retreat the skin before re-applying.

Also, obviously I'm not giving medical advice, nor am I treating any medical condition. I'm simply telling you how I use it myself, and what I've found works!

I also recommend that you study the plants that GOD gave to us for our medicine...it might save someone's life someday!