Simple folk remedies: 03 (minor cuts and grazes) (Singapore, Taipei, London, France)

For minor cuts and grazes, which is very common for someone as clumsy as I am, the simple method I’ve always used, up to this day six decades later, is to spit on the affected area.  

This is better than plasters because a plaster (a) is not always to hand; (b) will cover the cut/graze and therefore keep it moist, which makes it take longer to heal.

Apart from the fact that one’s own spittle is instantly available, even though using it rather than a plaster seems counter-intuitive because it’s even wetter than a plaster, it actually serves to seal the cut and stem the bleeding within a few minutes.  The injured area can then come into contact with water without any stinging feeling.

One observation in support of this spittle method:  animals licking their wounds.

When I was working in the pub, if I happened to be in the kitchen when a colleague cut their finger, I’d ask them to spit on the cut.  It’d always stop the bleeding within a minute, then form a protective coating, so that they can continue working.

For a graze, I’ve also used powder: to absorb the fluid that oozes out from the graze (serum?*).

On the eve of a trip to France, I’d gone on my bicycle to visit a friend, and fell off my bike on the way back, grazing my knee as  I was wearing a dress at the time.  Back at my flat, I was worried that more of the fluid would ooze out from the injury during my sleep, ending up sticking the bedding to the area, which would need peeling off in the morning — a messy, not to mention painful, situation too horrible to imagine.  I had some talcum powder, so I sprinkled it liberally over the graze.  It immediately soaked up the oozing fluid, and formed a dry’ish crust within a minute.  I went to sleep without any worries.  

This adaptation was inspired by a brown powder we always had in our first aid cupboard at home, made from grinding down various Chinese herbal-medicine ingredients: leaves, twigs, barks.  Presumably blood-stemming, just to name its primary function.  On one occasion, I’d cut my index finger very badly in Taipei.  The cut was dripping like a tap.  I applied some of this brown powder, under the name of 金真散 jīn zhēn sàn / “gold real scatter” (the “散 sàn / scatter” presumably refers to its being in powder form), to the deep cut.  It not only filled the gap of the cut — within half an hour, a dry scab had formed, and I was able to let that hand come into contact with water (for various washing functions).

In the West, one can use talcum powder or flour, I imagine.  The talcum powder trick not only meant that I woke up the next morning without finding my knee glued to my bedding, I was also able to make my way to France and enjoy my time there without it giving me any more trouble.

*from googling: 

If the drainage is thin and clear, it's serum, also known as serous fluid. This is typical when the wound is healing, but the inflammation around the injury is still high. A small amount of serous drainage is normal. Excessive serous fluid could be a sign of too much unhealthy bacteria on the surface of the wound.