Olive oil goes back many centuries and has been used for many ailments and remedies for health and medicinal use. Traditionally olive oil was sold in tiny little bottles that where available from chemists or the local wandering salesman. It is fascinating looking back in time to see how our ancestors used this fabulous oil, even though some of the remedies below we would not use today. Western medicine and research has ended some of these old wives remedies.
Scalds and burns: Using a linen cloth they would use a mixture of lime water and olive oil. Soaking the cloth in the mixture they would wrap it around the scold.
Laryngitis and a sore throat: People used to believe that it was a sore throat that lead to laryngitis, so they used to gargle with pure olive oil. Most of them found it rather difficult to gargle with the thick texture of oil so added some hot water to make it easier. They finished off with a teaspoon of honey which is a natural antiseptic.
Bowel problems: Olive oil was traditionally taken as a constipation reliever but some profess that it helped with diarrhea as well. The idea behind the diarrhea remedy was that you expelled anything in your stomach that was causing the problem.
Inner ear: A few drops of olive oil in the ear was said to relieve the waxy ear issue and some believed that it relieved deafness. One can hear far better without wax, so it would seem logical to us in this day and age. There are some people today that still use olive oil in their ear to relieve wax and tinnitus.
Skin and scalp: Olive oil was used as a cream to soothe the skin and the scalp. They added herbs and essential oils to change the odour of the oil. Parsley and olive oil was said to be an excellent hair conditioner, not surprising maybe as parsley is high in Vitamins C and B.
Over the years we have come to appreciate was goodness there really is in olive oil and have adapted our own ways of using it for health, cooking and around the house. Experimentation with olive oil can be fun and you may find surprising uses for it. Please note that the above uses are from the old days and not recommended by us unless you have personally found that they work for you.