When I was a kid I would always put toothpaste on my bug bites. I told my mom it made the itching feel better.
She thought it was all in my head.
Just this summer I had to treat a bad mosquito bite on Alethea’s cheek. I felt kind of silly, but I put toothpaste on it anyway, even though I figured it wouldn’t really help much, since my mom said it was all in my head.
But look what I just found:
It’s a set of household hint books. And do you see what is on the cover of the toothpaste book??!?! Yes, indeed, “Take the Bite Out of Burns and Itches”!
Ha! I knew it! It wasn’t all in my head!
I’ve always told people that toothpaste works for bug bites, and they didn’t believe me either! I’m glad for this piece of vindication.
Hmm….. I guess you were right, but I didn’t’ expect a (how old were you?) 6(?) year old to come up with a remedy for mosquito bites on her own. One site on the internet indicated that it is the fluoride that helps stop the itch. A couple of sites insisted peppermint toothpaste is the most effective.
I think that I have heard that it works before, but it is good to know that there is evidence in the form of published materials that support the theory :) Did the toothpaste help Alethea?
Interesting about the fluoride and peppermint. I’ve always used colgate paste, but I don’t know if there is any peppermint in it.
The toothpaste did help Alethea. She stopped itching and the bug bite got better. I think it helps that toothpaste is sort of messy and Alethea doesn’t like stuff stuck to her fingers, so she left it alone long enough for the flouride(?) to kick in.