From sunburn to sore muscles, you can enjoy all natural remedies for all your travel ailments. Relief can easily come from your kitchen pantry staples. So, skip the drugstore and raid your fridge or nearest supermarket for at-home fixes that will be cheaper, more effective, and better for you.
Related: Essential Oils for Travel – Natural, Plant Derived Necessities for Any Trip
Headache
Mix 4 tablespoons of a neutral base oil like almond, grape seed, or sunflower oil with 20 drops of peppermint essential oil. This is a mix you can make ahead and store or cut the recipe in half for a portable portion that will fit in your purse for on-the-go relief. Peppermint oil has a cooling effect great for all kinds of headaches, plus in disrupts the flow of pain signals to the brain.
Sunburn
Tourist Meets Travel has a wonderful and amazing hack for sunburn relief using tea bags, but if you are in a pinch, yogurt will do the trick, too! Grab some plain yogurt, doesn’t matter if it is Greek, traditional, or low-fat, any kind will work. Dab the creamy treat onto your burnt skin and enjoy the cooling relief for 10 minutes. The proteins have an anti-inflammatory relief that will help your sun-damaged skin.
Bug Bites
Mosquitoes and other biting bugs leave you feeling itchy and sporting red bumps. Banish the scratching and swelling with frozen tea bags. White, green, or black tea will all work. Dampen your chosen tea bags and store in the freezer. Keep them on hand through the summer, but the bags need to be frozen for at least 2 hours. Place the frozen bag on the bite and let it work its magic for 5 minutes.
Blemish Breakouts
I carry aspirin around for emergencies and backup pain relief. You can crush up an aspirin and mix it with enough water to form an exfoliating paste that will work miracles on your pimples. The aspirin contains salicylic acid that does double duty by exfoliating clogged pores and reducing inflammation.
Sore Muscles
Slice up inch of unpeeled ginger root. Simmer the ginger in 4 cups of water on low heat for 20 minutes. After it’s cooled, soak a small piece of cloth in the ginger-infused water and lay the cloth over our sore muscles and joints for at least 5 minutes. You can repeat the process up to 4 times a day.
Related: Cold and Flu Season – Natural Treatments to Treat and Prevent Illness on the Go
Scrapes and Minor Cuts
Fresh aloe vera isn’t just for burns! It’s not uncommon to see these plant leaves in your local grocery store. Hunt for thick, triangular green leaves in the produce department. Don’t be intimidated. Remove the spines along the edge of the leaf by trimming with a sharp knife. Then, split the leaf length wise, carefully, with a knife to reveal the gel. Spread the gel over the affected skin to create a thin barrier that also provides pain and itch relief.