Snake Oil, and Other Effective After-Bite Remedies

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Adapted from and article by David Stewart, Ph.D., R.A, in Grade-A-Notes.
Used by permission.

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Therapeutic-grade essential oils are not only good insect repellents, they are also excellent after you have been bitten.

• Essential oils are great detoxifiers for insect bites, because their chemistry can break down the poison and render it harmless.
• Because essential oil molecules are all lipid-soluble and very tiny (less than 500 amus), they are transdermal.

Thus, when applied to a bite, essential oils pass through the skin in seconds, reacting with the toxins injected by the insect, and reducing their toxic effects.

I was recently stung by a wasp and, within a few minutes, applied the cleansing blend to the area that had become red and swollen.  The stinging sensation soon resided, and within a few hours, I could not tell that I had ever been stung.

Do You Sell Snake Oil?

Good, therapeutic-grade essential oils are are powerful natural substances that are beneficial for so many different kinds of things that those who sell them are sometimes accused of selling "snake oil".  If you're ever accused of that, your response should be, "Yes, I do.  Would you like a bottle?"

A short history of this much-maligned profession

There are those in Australia who know what "snake oil" really is.

When the early pioneers were moving into the wild and untamed West of nineteenth-century America, they had to contend with many dangers, which included not only their exposure to the weather and the threat of hostile natives, but also the daily peril of rattle snake bites.

But, there was a remedy.

Traveling salesmen, who serviced those early pioneers, had an oil that, when applied to a snake bite, would penetrate the skin and detoxify the poison.  That oil was Tea Tree (Melaleuca alternifoila).  These traveling merchants came to be known as "Snake Oil Salesmen".  In the beginning, it was a good name, implying a good and effective product.

During the 1800s, Australia exported a lot of "snake oil" to America.  It was in great demand from miners, trappers and pioneer families.

Unfortunately, some of these traveling salesmen acquired a pretty bad reputation.  That is no reflection on the efficacy of melaleuca oil as an on-site detoxifier.  The oils still worked fine.  The salesmen were just ethically-challenged in other ways.

So there you have it: Many of you really are snake oil salespeople after all … .  And you can be proud of it.