Minor Burn Treatment and Pain Relief With a Clay Poultice

To prepare clay as a poultice:

Pour 1 cup of (distilled or mineral) water in a bowl (glass or ceramic).

Without using anything to stir it, gently sprinkle the clay evenly over the water. Be patient and let it the clay absorb the water and fall to the bottom of the bowl. If you sprinkle it too fast you will get a thick layer on top of the water which, when stirred will become clumpy. Sprinkle one layer, let it absorb then sprinkle more. It takes some time to do it the right way but the results are worth it. You will end up sprinkling about the amount of clay equal to the amount of water i.e. 1 cup water: 1 cup clay.

You will notice that the top of the mixture will begin to look like a miniature mountain range with bumps and hills. Keep sprinkling a little at a time (especially in the areas where you notice a little puddle of water) and let it absorb, until it looks like it has a thick pasty consistency with no puddles on the top. If you have done it correctly, you should be able to scoop a handful out and it should all be relatively the same thick consistency throughout without ever having to stir it! If needed you can "fold" it, but do not "stir" it. The stirring action disrupts the electrical charge (like the metal does) causing the clay to be less effective. The more stirring you do, the less effective it is.

(However, if you are using the clay for first aid or emergency care, such as for a minor burn treatment or for cuts, it doesn't seem to make a difference as far as taking the stinging or burning sensation away, so you can stir a batch up quickly but it is still best to use a wooden spoon). If you are using the poultice to pull out poisons for bites, stings, or tumors, I suggest that you try not to stir it if possible, as it is MOST effective when it is disrupted the least.

To make the clay even MORE powerful, set the hydrated bowl of clay outside in the sun. It cannot be inside a windowsill with the rays coming through the window, but outside with the sun hitting the clay directly. Take the lid off, and, in order to keep the clay from drying out, sprinkle a few tablespoons of water. As the clay absorbs the rays from the sun, it becomes more powerful (almost like it is solar powered) and will help heal even faster.

Clay stores extremely well and it does not go bad or rancid. You can to make a large quantity and keep it in a nice glass Pyrex bowl (they usually come with nice lids as well, or you could just put a plate over top as a lid). You can use a plastic lid as long as the plastic does not come in direct contact with the clay. If you are doing a treatment that will require MULTIPLE applications, you don't want to be making a poultice every single day. It actually becomes even more effective as the water absorbs the clay over time so you're not losing anything. It can be quite messy as well, so it's nice to just have one big mess, then it's over and you've got a nice big batch of clay that will last you a while.

Even if you who don't need it for multiple applications, it is recommended that everyone keeps at least a small bowl of it available for minor burn treatments and other first aid applications. If you cut or burn yourself and apply a thick layer of the clay, often the pain immediately goes away and you will notice the healing time is much quicker, and in many burn situations, skin that would have blistered and peeled heals and never even blisters!

To APPLY a poultice:

For minor burn treatment, cuts, scrapes, stings, spider or snake bites (anything requiring immediate attention): apply a thick layer (about ¼ to ½ inch thick) over the entire area. It won't hurt if you're a little too generous. You should notice immediate pain relief with burns and cuts especially.

Cover it with whatever cloth or leaf (cabbage or lettuce) is handy (a napkin would even do) then cover with plastic wrap to keep in the moisture in and tape it down. If it is on an arm or leg or somewhere you can wrap around the circumference, you don't have to use tape at all. You can simply cover the area as directed with a cabbage leaf (or other), then plastic wrap, and wrap the area with an ace bandage. If you wrap it snugly (not cutting off circulation, but snug enough to keep it from leaking), it should keep the poultice in place and seal the moisture in. Do not let the clay dry. It must remain moist.

Leave this on for 2 hours, and then if possible, discard the used clay and put a fresh poultice on until the itching, stinging, burning, or pain is not present when the clay is removed. Once you get to the point where you can take the poultice off and feel no pain you are ready to do 1 of 2 options:

If you have plenty of time during the day and are able, you can apply a fresh poultice in the morning when you wake up, leave it on for 2 hours then leave it off for 2 hours. Repeating this throughout the day (2 hours on, 2 hours off) every day until the wound is healed.

If you don't have much time during the day, or your job causes you to be unable to do the 2 hour treatment, don't worry. You can apply the poultice before going to bed (making sure it's nice and moist, you don't want it to dry during the night) and just leave it on all night and wash it off in the morning. Repeat this every night until the wound is healed.

For serious snake and spider bites, hopefully you have a poultice on hand that is made up the proper way without using metal or stirring, this way it has the most "drawing" action to pull out the poisons. Every 2 hours you will be replacing the poultice with a new, fresh poultice with no breaks in between (NOT on 2 off 2) until the swelling, redness, and inflammation is completely GONE! Then you may start to do one of the 2 options mentioned above.

To Fade: Age Spots, Scars, Discolorations of the skin: Use the same directions as with the cuts and scrapes, however this will not be applied to reduce pain, so there will be far less urgency when applying this. Again, if you've got the time to do it, you can apply it every day 2 hours on, 2 hours off. But if you don't, the night method works very well.

To Remove: Warts, Cysts, Tumors: Use the same directions as above. It is imperative with all of the poultices that they stay moist, but especially when trying to remove cysts and tumors. Just like with the spider and snakebites, you want an extremely powerful "drawing" action from the clay, therefore you want to use the clay made the proper way without stirring or using metal.