Everyone’s greatest fear when it comes to beauty is fire. Other kinds of burns are just as feared. Scars from burns are almost instant and permanent. Most people think there is nothing that can be done during the initial moments to prevent the inevitable scar. Scientific and medical studies have shown that pouring extra virgin olive oil onto a burn immediately depending on the severity will prevent blisters and further damage and prevent the scar or at least moderate the scarring. Many other Vitamin E potent substances have seen the same results. I've had to use this many times on myself, friends, and my children with very good results.

In the event of severe cuts, road rash, and other frightening events that could damage or scar the face or other areas important to image and beauty it’s vital that the wound be treated properly immediately to moderate the damage and scaring. Of course everyone fears stitches but believe it or not getting a large wound stitched will actually prevent or moderate what otherwise would be a bad scar. It depends on how severe and how wide the wound is gaping. Most doctors when asked will tell you after seeing the wound whether or not stitches would improve your chances of moderating scarring or if the stitches will cause worse markings.

Once again, extra virgin olive oil, as well as Aloe Vera juice squeezed from a leaf of the Aloe Vera plant will increase the speed and effectiveness of healing by more than forty times. And in many cases will even prevent scaring. The juice and oil causes the skin to repair faster and replace the tissues more effectively which prevents scarring and enhances the proper replacement of damaged skin. Also when worried that a wound will become infected which is a disaster as far as scar prevention is concerned, put honey on the wound. It not only disinfects the wound but enhances healing and scar reduction like the other two substances mentioned.

Believe it or not you can actually get huge gallon containers of extra virgin olive oil and even Aloe Vera juice and honey. Imagine pouring a whole gallon of basically vegetable oil onto your face after a fire! Most experts would have a heart attack if they saw you do this but that’s only because we don’t learn these techniques and nobody knows them except for a select class of scientists who care more about people than they do about profits. True there are products you can buy intended for burns, mostly for treating the pain, found in stores but if you read the ingredients you’ll discover Aloe Vera, Olive Oil, and Honey are some of the key ingredients and unfortunately they’re not as potent because of the processing from the factory to the shelf. Food grade Extra Virgin Olive Oil and the Aloe Vera you buy at the plant store and Food grade Honey are pure and undefiled and processed very lightly.

What is in these substances that produce such amazing and miraculous results? Many of the properties found in these substances are mystery especially in the case of Honey. Extra Virgin Olive Oil has some Vitamin E but not enough to be considered potent. Maybe we will never know. Mother Nature keeps guarding her secrets but as long as we know what to use we can be prepared. Keep these things handy around the house. You never know when a child knocks over a pot of boiling water onto a hand or even somebody’s face heaven forbid!

How to apply these is somewhat untraveled territory because as a disclaimer I need to make you aware that these treatments may not be approved by a doctor, experts, and the medical community, and public safety agencies. In the case of severe burns you should know that pouring oil onto the wound will trap heat and cause the wound to hurt very badly. One technique I use is to pour cool water (non-chlorinated if possible) over the wound after I’ve applied the oil, because much of the oil will remain even with the water washing it away. With severe burns you are not supposed to use cold water because it is lethal and causes death if the victim goes into shock. Use slightly cool or even slightly warm water. Some experts even advise against the use of water completely. Do not try to remove clothing or anything found on a burn. Let the emergency care personnel take care of it. The most you can do for burn is gently cover it with medical bandages and gauze and get the victim to a hospital immediately. I personally pour on the oil and then cover the wound which will get you a very severe tongue lashing by the doctor but it’s up to you whether or not you want to risk the scar damage being worse than it could have been.

As a disclaimer I would recommend that you use these techniques on non-serious, non-life threatening wounds only. Also most doctors will help you do it if you mention your desire to use Vitamin E oils such as Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Aloe Vera. Mostly these techniques would be most beneficial when applied during the healing process. The nice thing about Extra Virgin Olive Oil is that it can be poured on so that you never have to touch the wound. Aloe Vera is almost the same way, slightly more solid like a gel. And the same goes for Honey. And these substances protect the wound by forming a slight coating over the wound especially in the case of Aloe Vera which seems to form a shell over the wound that gets dark in color. Olive Oil raises the acidity level of the wound back to the level that is normal for skin to maintain the skin’s own anti-infection, anti-bacterial properties. Olive Oil also helps gauze and a bandage to not stick to the wound which is nice for when bandages need to be pulled off.

In the case of paper cuts, most likely not a threat to beauty however it’s a cool trick to know because paper cuts of course ironically are one of the most feared minor wounds because it’s usually so very painful during recovery and seems to heal so slowly and feels like the skin has cracked and will not go away! This is another important point to know. Olive Oil absorbs very quickly into the skin and might seem to disappear after only 15 minutes and so needs to continually be reapplied to keep the wound wet. This wet condition keeps wounds from drying out and cracking. In the case of paper cuts you’ll notice that Olive Oil also acts as a light anesthesia because as long as the wound is wet it does not hurt like paper cuts usually do with every movement and accidental brushing on something else. Especially on road rash which is similar to a burn and stays painful for awhile sometimes the Olive Oil keeps the wound moist so that it heals without cracking, and speeds healing, and dims the pain. A lot of times road rash wounds have lint and dirt and other materials smashed into the wound, Extra Virgin Olive Oil helps these things surface and come out of the wound painlessly.

Why does the Olive Oil need to be the Extra Virgin variety? Because Extra Virgin has more of the Vitamin E like properties, in fact the other versions of Olive Oil are completely useless for healing wounds and in fact some are hazardous and detrimental and toxic. Good luck in every disaster, and follow your gut instinct and if you feel that you shouldn’t do something, follow your first impression and trust in yourself. That inner voice is almost always right until your doctor or the emergency responders arrive. Some of these techniques and treatments might cause more problems, so be sure to use them only on minor wounds until you’ve become a little better at applying them. Experience sometimes is the best medicine. More often than not, it’s the minor, tiny little cut, that nobody fears until a scar is revealed that surprises everyone catching us unawares. Scars unfortunately seem permanent in most cases. Technology is revealing secrets through surgery and lasers and other treatments for removing scars. But we can do even more in the prevention by knowing the cool facts about these three substances found in any grocery store!

Read more about your health and prevention of beauty damaging forces at my website: www.healthya.webs.com and have a fruitful week!

–Ben Waldon (Avid student of Nature, Nutrition, & Life)