Soap & Sugar

[Large Sack]

I never thought about it before (stupid...considering ) but my grandmother and mother both advocated the use of a soap and sugar poultice in order to extract deep seated splinters and thorns (has also been used to help alleviate septicemia due to infection of splinter (but I won't say more on that as I really don't know all the pros and cons).

As a kid I have been on the receiving end of this on several occasions and can honestly testify to its effectiveness.

What follows is taken from Hub Pages (all credit to them)

There are various types of poultices that can be used to treat a wide variety of complaints from acne and arthritis to bruises and sprains. Some people advocate the use of porridge, carrot, bread, clay, cabbage or herbal poultices and many use poultices as a home remedy for their horses' ailments. So poultices can have many uses, but here we're focusing on bringing something, such as a splinter or boil, to the surface for easy removal.

Essentially, a poultice will help ease out anything that's embedded under the skin such as wood or metal splinters and can also bring boils or abcesses to the surface. It's one of the best methods for easy removal of splinters and will save you the pain of digging around with a needle trying to get the splinter out. It's an easy home remedy that everyone should know about.

The Poultice Recipe
There are only 2 ingredients to make this simple homemade poultice and they're things that everyone has at home.

Soap Bar
Sugar
Large Band Aid or Bandage

Use equal amounts of soap and sugar and mash them together in a clean container with a small spoon or clean finger. For a splinter you'll only need small amounts of each substance, but you may need to make more poultice to cover a large boil or abscess. Just ensure you make enough poultice to cover the affected area.

With clean hands spread your sugar and soap poultice onto the affected area and cover securely with a bandaid or bandage. Leave the poultice on for 24 hours and don't allow it to get wet.

Hopefully, when you remove your band aid or bandage the splinter or boil will have risen to the surface enabling you to either tweezer out the offending splinter or squeeze the boil. Clean the area thoroughly using water, removing any poultice mixture that remains. Clean the wound further with an antibacterial solution or cream and leave uncovered to heal.

If after 24 hours the boil or splinter hasn't come completely to the surface, wash away the old poultice mixture, make some more sugar and soap poultice, add to the affected area, cover and leave for a further 24 hours.

This will in most cases do the trick, but if not you may want to try a specially prepared drawing salve.

I hope that this will prove useful for some of you

Cheers
Sack

 

[Chiseller]

Great piece.....but I would add that blackthorn should be removed as quickly as possible due to risk of lockjaw.

The Mighty Oak Is Merely A Nut Who Stood His Ground

 

[Tadpole]

As a youth I was spiked by a thorn about 18mm long, and deep in my lower leg that got infected. Took a few days but sugar and green soap pulled that thorn out and although i have a scar, the infection was all done and dusted within a few days. To this day use it(sugar and soap) for 'pulling hawthorns that get "stuck"

 

[Large Sack]

As a youth I was spiked by a thorn about 18mm long, and deep in my lower leg that got infected. Took a few days but sugar and green soap pulled that thorn out and although i have a scar, the infection was all done and dusted within a few days. To this day use it(sugar and soap) for 'pulling hawthorns that get "stuck"

The last time my mother used this on me was after I speared the soft flesh below my ankle bone with hawthorn, went in so deep you couldn't see it other than a dark shadow under the skin. As you say Tadpole it was green 'Fairy' soap that was used mixed up with the sugar. I'd like to say 'aahhh, happy memories'...but it hurt like ****

Sack

 

[Toddy]

Good post


Soap and Sugar ( or mag sulph paste (Epsom salts) is good for broken off rose thorns too and those tiny wee nippy ones from brambles

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Robbi]

we used to use soap and sugar mix to clean our hands before swarfeager (sp) was invented

 

[FGYT]

we used to use soap and sugar mix to clean our hands before swarfeager (sp) was invented

I still do

 

[Wayland]

My Nan had a little cardboard pot of something she called "Black Jack" that she used the same way.

Never did find out what was in the stuff but it did the trick.

I spoke to a pharmacist about it a while ago and he said it was removed from use because of something in it but he reckoned Mag. Sulphate did the same job.

 

[Bigfoot]

I remember my mother making copious amounts of poultices for me as a child, I always seemed to be in the wars Soap & Sugar was a regular, as was caolin/kaolin. I only realised recently how expensive caolin poultice goo is these days and learned also that vets use it regularly on horses

 

[Large Sack]

I remember my mother making copious amounts of poultices for me as a child, I always seemed to be in the wars

I'm 50 next year and I tell my kids that my generation was really the last of the, what I call, Enid Blyton generation...Famous Five, Secret Seven; my bike was everything from a motorbike to a horse, to a tank to a plane, the whole village was my garden, go karts were pushed up hills (and didnt have batteries), a ball was used for a hundred different games, and my dad's old penknife, a BSA Meteor air rifle and a split cane fishing rod were my prized posessions. The local plod would literally clip our ears/tell your folks (a fate worse than death in my house) and a qtr of cola cubes or pineapple chunks lasted a week!

It really is no wonder that in comparison to all that, with the advent of modern entertainment for kids...I had completely forgotten about soap and sugar.

Shame I'm a townie now ...need more splinters, cuts, scrapes, boils and blisters!

Sack

 

[Miyagi]

Excellent thread Large Sack, it's taken me back years!

Liam

 

[gsfgaz]

Great post , my wee maa would use it all the time , i still use it till this day .. great for skelf's etc

 

[BoonDoc]

One theory behind these poultices is that they dehydrate the skin around the splinter which then becomes exposed.

 

[Wayland]

I always assumed it was osmotic pressure that did the job, but that was just a guess.

 

[Gill]

I remember having a few of these when i was a nipper i also remember bread being used and it was warm when put on !enough sugar inhibits bacteria growth, encouraging healing. It also would help to keep the wound moist which is essential to healing.

 

[Barn Owl]

mine were always warm too.

 

[Large Sack]

Thanks for the kind words folks, I hope it has stirred up some fond memories for some of you...and perhaps, like me, refreshed you with a technique that you can use again.

As for the reasoning behind how the poultice works, I'm afraid I would only be guessing. I haven't done any research but bearing in mind osmosis as Wayland mentioned and the dehydration that BoonDoc put forward, I can only add that on two occasions I witnessed a splinter and a thorn get extracted after they had been embedded beyond 1cm into the skin. That's pretty powerful movement.

Cheers
Sack

 

[Fingle]

I use this same technique from my Grandad pretty often, although hardly ever for splinters (luck with splinters), he swore by it for bad insect bites, boils and sores which he got experience of in Burma a plenty! Although a couple of times I have seen it generate some pretty epic bruising, leaves a bad insect bite/thorn wound clean but the area very bruised afterwards. He also swore by mild hydrogen peroxide solution for almost everything including a 'sticky ear'. Everything else got the salt water solution or tiger balm.

Thanks for stirring a fond memory or two of the old fellah....

Cheers mate.

Fingle

 

[bushcraftmyway]

that's good toknow... thank you!

i have 2 questions: will any soap work? and how long do you have to keep it on?

 

[Toddy]

We just use scrapings from the bar of soap at the sink, though my Mum used the bar of green stuff that was used to scrub teatowels and the like before the were put in the machine to wash.
Overnight is usually long enough.

cheers,
Toddy