Spotty body, as we like to call chicken pox, debuted in our home a few weeks ago. We got a crash course in remedies, starting with our herbal bath soak pouches. When the second and third children joined in the fun, we made some homemade calamine to further soothe the itch.
Chicken pox is likely something you’ll only deal with once or twice in your home, yet having a set of remedies up your sleeve will go a long way to ensure the week or two goes by much more smoothly. We hope you enjoy our recipe for homemade calamine!
Ingredients
• 3 tbsp clay (we used redmond bentonite clay as it was what we had on hand)
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp dried chamomile
• 1 tbsp dried calendula
• 1/4 cup water
• optional – essential oils such as lavender and tea tree oil
Instructions
1 :: Boil the water, and set aside to cool for a few minutes before adding the dried herbs. Set this mixture aside to infuse – if you’re planning ahead, great – you can leave it for hours – if not, just do what you can!
2 :: In a bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients – clay, baking soda, and salt.
3 :: Add in the infused water. Combine.
4 :: Add in any essential oils that you’d like – please note, one child here found that the calamine stung – not sure if it was really just cold and he is too young to differentiate the sensations – however, you could add some essential oils to a tiny portion of your mixture to test it out first. I can imagine that oils like tea tree on an already popped chicken pox blister could be irritating.
5 :: Place your mixture in a canning jar in the fridge and use as you would use store bought calamine.