This is a little embarrassing but I’m going to tell you anyway. I have another planter wart on my big toe! And it’s terribly unfortunate that I discovered this planter wart less than 24 hours before I fly over to the other side of the world for a two month trip away. Grrrr!
But the good news is I’ve had a planter wart before so I know how to quickly get rid of them. And hopefully if you’ve got one too then this blog post will help you out.
Planter warts have an ugly name but they’re not that ugly at all. In fact, they’re very difficult to see. Commonly they’ll appear on the bottom of your feet and will look like a tiny black dot which may or may not be surrounded by some coarse or thicker skin. Because my planter warts appear on my big toe and the skin is already quite thick and course there, my planter warts are very difficult to see. But I know they’re there because they hurt! Usually I spend a couple of weeks thinking I must have some kind of cut or splinter in my toe (I’m bare foot a lot). Then after a couple of weeks have passed and I still have the pain, I’ll check it out to see if a planter wart has popped up.
How To Get Rid Of A Planter Wart
This is an incredibly easy and natural solution that works in about two weeks. I have a friend who kept getting a planter wart on the bottom of his foot. First he got it cut out by a doctor, then when it grew back he got it burnt out by the doctor again. And when it still grew back he tried this natural solution. The planter wart fell out on its own after two weeks and still hasn’t grown back years later. That’s awesome.
What you’ll need
A cue tip
Apple cider vinegar
Duct tape
The solution
Pull the cotton off the end of the cue tip and soak it in apple cider vinegar.
Place the soaked cotton on your planter wart then completely cover with duct tape. The trick is to “starve” the wart of oxygen so you want to make sure no air can make its way to the wart.
Leave the duct tape on for as long as needed. Usually it will take around two weeks for the planter wart to fall out. If the duct tape falls off before the planter wart has come out (and this is normal, you will likely need to replace the duct tape occasionally), repeat the process above. And don’t worry – this won’t set you back! It’s likely that your planter wart will still fall out relatively quickly.
A good friend of mine has been using hemp seed oil to moisturize his face for as long as I’ve known him. He has excellent and clear skin so I’ve always wondered if the hemp seed oil had something to do with his great complexion. What stopped me from trying it myself was my fear of using straight oils on my face, and the fact that his pores were enlarged (even though you had to look really close to see them).
It reminded me of a time years ago (before I had acne) when I used to make my own skin care products with waxes and essential oils. They’d always make my pores look visibly a lot larger so my creations always ended up in the bin.
However (and this is the really, really good bit), recently he started adding aloe vera into the hemp seed oil with amazing results!
Aloe vera naturally tightens the skin, especially fresh aloe. You’ll be able to feel it if you squeeze some of the aloe gel out of a leaf and apply it to skin on any part of your body. The skin will almost immediately begin to feel tighter.
So aloe vera is a perfect mix for the hemp seed oil. After a few moments the “oily sheen” that is often left after using straight hemp seed oil will have left completely. It’s as if the aloe vera helps the hemp seed oil to be absorbed into the skin. The aloe also prevents the pores from looking enlarged. As it tightens the skin, it tightens the pores too.
It’s also important to note here that I’ve now finally discovered a resource that lists the comedogenic rating for hemp seed oil. And it was awesome to find that hemp seed oil has a rating of 0. This means it’s super safe to use on the skin, will not clog your pores and will not give you acne. Check out the resource by clicking here.
How to make your own hemp seed & aloe facial moisturizer
One application of this moisturizer requires around 5 drops of hemp seed oil mixed with 1-2 teaspoons of aloe vera gel. Use organic ingredients if you can. I was too excited to pass on this recipe so I haven’t experimented yet with quantities for making more of a bulk product.
You can use aloe vera gel bought from a store, but of course it’s always best to use fresh aloe directly from a plant. If using fresh aloe vera gel and making up bulk quantities of this moisturizer, you will need to preserve the gel in some way. To make your own aloe vera gel, follow the recipe in this article – How To Harvest Aloe Vera & How To Make Your Own Gel
I’ve possibly been a little too obsessed with aloe vera lately but this magical plant deserves a lot of attention! The last newsletter I sent out included a recipe for an aloe & msm gel. I’d love to use this post to extend on that recipe to add healing essential oils. These oils will make the gel more powerful and lengthen its shelf life. More in my video:
For the best way to harvest your aloe leaves, check out this beautiful and very instructive slide show from Natural News – How to Harvest Fresh Aloe Vera Gel
And here is the extended recipe:
Soothing Aloe & MSM Gel
100ml of fresh aloe vera gel
15g of MSM powder/flakes
1 drop of grapefruit seed extract
5 drops of Vitamin E oil
1/2 tsp of lavender essential oil
Combine aloe & MSM and leave to sit until the MSM has dissolved (this will take at least 30 minutes). Add the remaining ingredients then store in a glass airtight container. This gel is best kept in the fridge.
I love making my own skin care. Nothing feels better to me than getting right back into nature and using beautiful fresh and raw ingredients to create an amazing facial mask or scrub.
The Earth has so many healing ingredients to offer us. We don’t have to create something synthetic in a laboratory. Everything we need is perfect in its natural form. A great example I love to use is aloe-vera. Aloe is magic. Picked straight from the plant the gel has an immediate skin tightening effect. It’s also a natural salicylic acid which will deep cleanse your pores. And it has anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. A perfect plant for the skin and so perfect in its natural form.
My friend Victoria has created an eBook on homemade natural skin care which includes a lot of luscious recipes using ingredients straight from nature. She has recipes for everything luxurious including the essentials (cleanses, masks, scrubs, etc), as well as spa treatments for the eyes, body, hands and feet. They’re fun to make, they’re cheap and they’re great for your skin and body. Our skin is a living organ that soaks in everything we put on it, so what you put on your skin really should be safe enough to eat.
Victoria has leaked a couple of recipes from the book that I’d love to share with you. You can probably make these tonight from what you’ve already got lying around the house. Let me know how your home spa goes!
Homemade Cucumber Mask
- Fresh cucumber juice (if you don’t have a juicer, you can use grated cucumber)
- Cream (preferably raw & organic)
- Rose water
Mix 1 tablespoon of fresh cucumber juice, 1 tablespoon of cream and 20 drops of rose water. Thoroughly mix until it forms a foam. Apply the mask for 20 minutes then rinse off. Cucumber has such a wonderful cooling and soothing effect. Applying cucumber mask after a hard working day will help to relax and hide all traces of fatigue on your skin. Rose water has light astringent properties.
Oatmeal Scrub
- Oatmeal
- Rice
- Yogurt or kefir
Mix equal proportions oatmeal and rice. Grind them in a spice or coffee grinder and add some yogurt to make a creamy paste. Thoroughly massage your face, leave for 2-3 minutes, then rinse off. Oatmeal absorbs excess amounts of oil from your body, while rice exfoliates it. Oatmeal also is highly absorptive, hypoallergenic, and helps to soften skin.
I feel like we’re making skin care into something that’s way more complicated than it should be.
Over the past 12 months I’ve felt a strong pull towards nature which has opened my eyes to the healing properties of plants and raw natural resources that can be sourced in our own gardens, nursery, kitchen or health stores. And using these organic resources to make very simple, inexpensive and luscious skin care is a beautiful way to work with our skins natural process instead of trying to fight against it …
Am I talking weird stuff? You might need to watch the video to understand what I’m talking about!
A good friend of mine has been using hemp seed oil to moisturize his face for as long as I’ve known him. He has excellent and clear skin so I’ve always wondered if the hemp seed oil had something to do with his great complexion. What stopped me from trying it myself was my fear of using straight oils on my face, and the fact that his pores were enlarged (even though you had to look really close to see them). 
- Fresh cucumber juice (if you don’t have a juicer, you can use grated cucumber)
