8 Old Wives Tales: Which Should You Believe?

[VeloVT]

I know you're not *supposed* to put ice on a burn, but it works wonders for small kitchen-type burns on your hands. It can be the difference between getting a painful blister and not getting one. My two cents.

I'm a big fan of juice (orange, grapefruit, or cranberry) cut in half with hot water for colds. My boyfriend sometimes makes me "orange juice tea" when I'm sick: black tea, made with about 2/3 water and 1/3 orange juice, finished with a little sugar or sweetener and a sprinkle of cinnamon. I don't know if any of this makes any difference other than just the benefit of taking in extra fluids, but taking lots and lots of extra vitamin C supplements really seems to help.

I like ginger tea. I don't know if it helps my stomach feel better, but it feels "healthy" in general.

[Crankin]

+1 on the ginger tea. I have a very "fussy" stomach and I use this remedy quite frequently.
I know nothing about wet hair and dandruff. I recently cut my hair very short again, after 2 years of having to blow dry it. I go out with it damp quite a bit.

[Selkie]

I swim every morning before I head off to work and I don't have the motivation/time to dry my hair. Therefore, I've been outside with wet hair year round---and we had a very cold winter. No colds/coughs/viruses until this week, when I caught an awful upper respiratory bug from my DH (my hair was dry at the time!!!).

[Thorn]

Ginger in any form....now that I'm older I find I get motion sick when travelling. Chai made with soy milk, ginger snaps or the Ginger People's ginger chews all work for me. Better than the drugs did.

But, not to forget, Grandma's wisdom and chicken soup. I believe it was actually shown that the thyme (???) in the broth did help clear the sinuses and, of course, the extra fluids were correct. Even as a vegetarian, you can make up a batch of "chicken soup" with seitan and the spices and feel better, if for no other reason than it is good comfort food.