Chapped Hand Glove

125 ml (1/2 cup)finely chopped or minced borage leaves

1 dessertspoon castor oil 125 ml (1/2 cup) oats

1 dessertspoon honey

Mix into a paste, adding a little hot water to the borage leaves. Spread over the hands, put on the gloves and keep them on for an hour or two, or overnight.

Hard Skin Softener

Mix a tablespoon of coarse sea-salt with a tablespoon of almond oil, and rub vigorously into the hard, horny areas. Then hop into a bath, adding a little more oil to the bathwater, and soak the well-rubbed areas for at least 10 minutes. Then rub the hard skin away with a pumice-stone. After your bath soothe the worked area with a good cream or lotion.

Mask for Horny Skin

This is particularly good for roughened hands and heels.

2-4 cups soapwort, flowers, roots and leaves, steeped in 2 litres (8 cups) boiling water

Herbal Beauty

250 ml (1 cup) pawpaw, mashed OR

2-3 slices pineapple, mashed

Halfan avocado

250-500 ml (1-2 cups) bran

4 scented geranium leaves, minced

Mash all the ingredients together, except soapwort, adding enough bran to make the mixture adhere. Soak hands or feet in the soapwort brew for 10 minutes. Dry the skin. Spread the mask on hands or feet in a thick layer. Leave on for 20 minutes, then wash off in the soapwort brew, using a pumice stone. Rub a good cream into the area.

NB: Never pare off horny skin with a razor blade. Rather use a purnice-stone.

Hand Cream

25 ml (2 tbsp) lanolin

12,5 ml (1 tbsp) liquid paraffin

25 ml (2 tbsp) herbal infusion, such as scented

geranium, lavender, camphor leaves, eucalyptus

leaves, basil, elder (250 ml or 1 cup herb to 500 ml

or 2 cups boiling water; stand, steep, cool, strain) 37,5 ml (3 tbsp) aqueous cream

Whisk all ingredients together. Store in a screw- top jar. Use lavishly on dry hands. It is also good for dry, scaly skin on the legs.

Callouses and Brittle Nails

Warm 250 ml (1 cup) olive or castor oil, add 125 ml (1/2 cup) sage leaves, and heat for 5 minutes. Stand, steep, cool and strain. Bottle. Rub frequently into callouses and nails, especially into cuticles.

Chapped, Dry, Rough Skin Treatment

These dry areas can be rubbed with almond oil or sweet oil, in which scented geranium leaves have been steeped. Sweet oil is an excellent restorer, and with a few drops of eucalyptus or rosemary oil added to it, it is a most effective rub.

Brown Skin Spots

1 measure castor oil, eg 25 ml (2 tbsp)

1 measure wheatgerm oil

2 capsules vitamin E

Whirl in a blender, bottle, and apply frequently to the spots.

Wart Removers

The juice of a fig leaf, melkbos (Ascepelas), ivy leaf, or purple tradescantia are all good wart removers. Alternatively make a poultice of a small piece of the inside of a banana skin, or a piece of cotyledon leaf. Hold it in place over the wart with a strip of plaster. Replace daily with a fresh piece for a week to 10 days, or until the wart softens and falls off.

Chilblains

Make a strong infusion of calendula flowers (250 ml or 1 cup flowers to 250 ml or 1 cup boiling water). Soak the chilblains in this brew for 5-10 minutes or saturate a bandage and apply to the area. Dab on frequently.

An old-fashioned remedy is to rub ripe strawberries over the chilblain area daily throughout the season and the next winter the condition will ease. Make a strong tea of strawberry leaves and soak the chilblains in it daily when they trouble

Corn Remover

Soak several ivy leaves in enough apple cider vinegar to cover. Sprinkle with sea-salt. Leave overnight or seal in a jar for a few days. Take out a leaf, apply it to the corn, and bind in place. The ivy leaves will gradually soften the corn until it can be lifted out. Massage the remaining scar with wheatgerm oil and vitamin E.

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Herbal Hard Hand Corn Remover, Soft Skin Care