Home Remedy for Wart Removal

Reviewing How to Remove Warts With Duct Tape

One of the most frustrating of all skin conditions is the common wart. Though many of us were raised to believe warts are caused by handling frogs or toads, the truth is that warts are caused by viruses that get into the skin. They're especially common in children, though they can occur at any age.

Warts commonly occur on the fingers or on elbows and knees. Warts on the bottom of the foot are called plantar warts and can be painful when walking.

Common warts are harmless, but they can be very annoying and unsightly. Wart removal can be an uncomfortable process consisting of burning, freezing, use of acid, or cutting and paring.

Instead of paying for these painful and sometimes expensive treatments, try this home remedy for wart removal using something you probably already have in your home, duct tape. While not guaranteed, this method is easy, painless, and often suggested by medical doctors.

Worth a try? Having suffered from warts as a child, I'd say definitely so.


Here's what you'll need:

• A roll of duct (or duck) tape
• Scissors
• An emery board or pumice stone

Here's how to do it:

1. Cut a piece of duct tape just larger than the wart.  Apply the tape to the wart. Wait six days. If the tape comes off during the six days, replace it with another piece.
2.  After six days, remove the duct tape. Use an emery board to gently and painlessly smooth down the spot.
3. Repeat the process with another piece of duct tape for another six days.  Often, when it comes time to remove the tape the second time, the wart will come off with the tape.  If not, repeat again. Note that plantar warts can be deep and often take longer to remove, but be patient and watch for progress. 

Tips:

• You can buy duct tape at the local discount or hardware store.  
• For reluctant kids, use colorful duct tape cut in fun shapes to cover the wart. 

Caveat:  

• I am not a doctor and this home remedy recommendation is not to be taken as medical advice. There is, however, plenty of anecdotal evidence that the duct tape method does work to remove common warts and I learned this from a medical doctor.
• The duct tape method is for use with warts, not moles or skin tags.  See a physician for an expert opinion on the status of moles and for simple removal of most skin tags.  
• If after a reasonable period of time the wart remains or is painful or bleeds, seek a medical opinion.  

How do you feel about home remedies for common problems such as warts? Think this method will work? 

If you'd like to read more about natural home remedies, you might want to start with this bestseller, The People's Pharmacy Quick and Handy Home Remedies: Q&A's For Your Common Ailments. If you can remove warts with duct tape, just think of all the other natural possibilities out there!

More Related Reading: 

• Check out these other weird home remedies.
• It's National I Love My Feet Day

~Susan

Read more of my reviews. 

Frog photo from Wikimedia Commons

Posted by Susan Deppner

About the Author

Susan Deppner is a baby boomer, a cancer survivor, and a Southerner who believes in the Golden Rule. She enjoys writing about food, faith, and fitness; health, home, and holidays; people, places, pets, and patriotism, and more. Follow Susan on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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If Your Back Itches, Scratch it Yourself: A Back Scratcher Review

My Back Scratcher
© B. Radisavljevic

There comes a time in every person's life when his or her back itches, and there is no one around to scratch it. It always seems to itch in a place we can't reach. It can drive us nuts. It doesn't just happen to people who live alone. Anyone can be alone when it happens, at home or in an office cubicle. Who wants to call a colleague over to scratch one's itchy back? I have the answer for that itchy back. If your back itches, scratch it yourself with this wonderful bamboo back scratcher.


I lived a long time without this particular back scratcher. I acquired a cheaper, less efficient model decades ago in Chinatown. It was shorter and it had a very small “hand.” It did the job as well as I expected it to, since it could reach the parts of my back I could not reach with my own hands.

When we moved “temporarily” to this house to accommodate our medical needs, I neglected to bring that old backscratcher. I'm not even sure now where it is. I was going crazy without one. I was trying to use the handle end of a shoehorn and even a chopstick, which was not really up to the job. Kitchen utensils simply weren't designed to scratch backs and neither were shoehorns.

I finally decided enough was enough. The next time I needed to make an Amazon order, I looked for a back scratcher to add to it. I found my wonderful bamboo back scratcher you see in these photos.

This new back scratcher turned out to be an improvement over the old one I had purchased in Chinatown. My new one is longer (17.5 inches long) and smoother. It is also easier to use, since the handle is much wider. It feels better in my hand and I have more control as I seek out the itchy places to scratch. The photo below shows it a tiny bit smaller than it actually is.

My Back Scratcher, © B. Radisavljevic

My Back Scratcher's "Hand," © B. Radisavljevic

The hand on the new one is also twice the size of the hand on my old one. That means it's easier to find the itchy place faster and scratch it. The hand is actually a bit bigger than it appears here.


Why suffer any longer with unrelieved itching? Get this wonderful and inexpensive bamboo back scratcher today while you are thinking about it. Get another one for someone you love while you're at it. Even shipping is free if you have Amazon Prime, and you can try Amazon Prime thirty days for free. Why wait? Order your back scratcher and  Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. You'll have your back scratcher in a couple of days with no shipping charge. Enjoy.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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SLS-Free Toothpaste and Why I Brush With Tooth Soap

"I'm Going to Wash Your Mouth Out With Soap!"

Did your mom ever say that to you? I hope not, but if she did, she was actually onto something. In fact, after extensive research, I no longer use toothpaste. Instead, I brush my teeth with tooth soap!

Most of my life, I had a major problem with mouth ulcers. If you've ever had those white, painful sores on the inside of your cheek or lips that make it difficult to eat, then you know what I'm talking about. Several years ago, I started searching for a cause for mouth ulcers and I came across several articles about SLS in toothpaste. A good number of people like me were reporting that using an SLS-free toothpaste put an end to their mouth sores.

I was interested, in fact I was thrilled. But what toothpaste should I use? And where could I find toothpaste without SLS, one that was safe to use? My research continued.

SLS stands for sodium lauryl sulfate which is used in many products from toothpaste to industrial cleaners. Why? Because SLS causes a reaction in those products that makes them foamy or sudsy when they're used. But get this. It's also used as a skin irritant in testing of products made to heal skin conditions.

What about other potentially harmful ingredients in toothpaste? Did you ever wonder about the “Do Not Swallow” warning on the label or why many toothpastes say they are not to be used by children under six-years of age?

Many of the ingredients in toothpaste can be dangerous. For instance, there's silica. Medicinenet.com defines silica this way: “The chief component of sand and a substance responsible for lung disease and cancer.” Read the label on your own toothpaste and I’m guessing you’re going to think twice before you squeeze that tube tonight on your way to bed!

But back to SLS-free toothpaste and why I brush with tooth soap.

My research eventually led me to tooth soap which at that time was expensive and somewhat hard to find. Since then, I make an effort to put fewer ingredients that I can't pronounce into my body. A few of the "natural" alternatives for brushing that I've tried are these (prices are subject to change):

* The Tooth Soap brand is what originally sold me on tooth soap. Get a 4-ounce jar of peppermint shreds for $23.86 with Amazon Prime.

 * Squigle Tooth Builder, Sensitive, 4.4 oz Toothpaste, $9.50 with Prime. Ingredients: 36% Natural Xylitol, water, calcite, glycerin, poloxamer, cellulose gum, Methocel, calcium propionate, lactoferrin. I like this, but it doesn't make my teeth feel as smooth as they get with tooth soap. And it's expensive.

* Xyli-White Toothpaste 6.4 oz $3.99 add-on item. Ingredients: Water, xylitol, hydrated silica, glycerin, sorbitol, sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, sodium coco-sulfate, carrageenan, tea tree leaf oil, peppermint oil, spearmint oil, papain, potassium sorbate. I've tried this and it's actually pretty good (discounting the silica on the ingredient list) and it's cheaper than most on this list but, again, it doesn't clean as well as tooth soap.

* Tom's Toothpaste. Tom's has a reputation for using natural ingredients in its products. Unfortunately for me, they use sodium lauryl sulfate as a dispersing agent, so I have to eliminate this product from my "recommended" list. Apparently there is a low-sudsing variety without SLS, so look for that and give it a try.

* Coconut Oil Toothpaste. I have tried brushing my teeth with coconut oil, fresh from the kitchen, and that wasn't a very satisfying experience, though your results may vary. Additionally, I tried a coconut oil toothpaste in a tube and had mixed results. Why mixed? Because since coconut oil is responsive to temperature, during cold weather it became partially solid and was nearly impossible to squeeze out of the tube, so I became very frustrated and quit using it until summer.

* Today's winner and my overall recommendation: Uncle Harry's Tooth Soap (peppermint) $8.99 for a 2-ounce jar, free shipping. This is something I found recently, started using it a few weeks ago, and I really like it! The price is right (those 2 ounces will last a long time), I love that it's a whipped formula and not a shred like the original Tooth Soap brand, and my teeth are getting much cleaner than they did with the xylitol toothpaste I previously used. Recommended!

You might be asking yourself, does tooth soap taste like soap? Well yes, it actually does. The Uncle Harry's tooth soap that I've been using contains organic peppermint essential oil so when I open the jar, it's the minty fresh smell that I notice. It doesn't take much soap to brush, just a dab on the tip of my toothbrush, so my mouth doesn't fill with suds and spread the soap taste to my taste buds. Plus, by now I've gotten used to brushing with soap and it doesn't bother me a bit. You'll get used to it, too.

Bottom line, I brush my teeth with tooth soap, always SLS-free, and my mouth ulcer problem has disappeared. I no longer wake up with an icky mouth and a coating on my teeth. Instead, my teeth feel smooth and clean after I brush. And, (did I mention?) no more mouth ulcers with SLS-free tooth soap! It worked for me and I hope it will work for you.

(To learn more about SLS, visit this page at Mercola.com.  It's a very interesting topic to research.)

--Susan Deppner

About the Author

Posted by Susan Deppner

About the Author

Susan Deppner is a baby boomer, a cancer survivor, and a Southerner who believes in the Golden Rule. She enjoys writing about food, faith, and fitness; health, home, and holidays; people, places, pets, and patriotism, and more. Follow Susan on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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