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Comment by csr86 | Hacker News Reader

"Tar, acclaimed to have been formed from the sweat of Väinämöinen, a central character from the Finnish national epic Kalevala, was an important medicament to the former-day Finns. Tar actually did bear antiseptic features, which worked as a cure for infections. Lately tar has been recognised to include parts that can cause cancer, and the European Union has urged that its use should be avoided." [1]

I personally dont know how tar was used for health, but it was big export item of Finland during medieval times.

[1]https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/themes/themes/health-a-wellbein...

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Vishnevski’s Liniment, which contains birch tar, was a common treatment for wound infections and burns in the Soviet bloc. However, this was something that individuals used because there was nothing else at hand.

Now, there are things like Fucidin, Polysporin and silver ointment for infected wounds and burns, respectively, that are safer and more effective.

Some people still swear by it, because “tradition” and probably some element of malignant patriotism too.

Tar based, (anti)Dandruff Shampoo is still a thing

Yeah, works great but may cause cancer…

It is great stuff, I use it regularly. It makes my grey hair go all frizzy and flyaway, so that is a plus.

I only know how it’s used for psoriasis as part of the Goeckerman method [1] but allegedly there’s some general anti-inflammatory effect.

[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3735239/

It's mildly anti-fungal as well, which makes it effective in dandruff shampoo since a lot of dandruff is caused by fungal overgrowth, aka seborrheic dermatitis.

Another weird/fun one is using bleach as an anti-inflammatory (topical only, of course...), although these days you can find derivative products that offer the same benefits but are much less harsh.

I take a mild bleach bath sometimes and it’s quite invigorating. Seems to kill off a lot of skin surface bacteria which can sometimes be beneficial (there’s good and bad bacteria on your skin).

Not to be done too often but every once in a while I find it helpful. Not all that different from a strongly chlorinated pool.

Another cool one, especially if you don’t have a sauna, is doing a mustard bath. You will sweat like a stuck pig

> ... doing a mustard bath.

So many questions...

American, English, or Dijon?

*Sponsored by Heinz? ;)

lol. They make formulations you can buy but I make my own. A cup of ground mustard seed, which I buy fairly cheap online, and a few tablespoons of baking soda, plus some essentials oils mainly to cut through the mustard smell.

Pour that in a warm bath and soak for 20 mins. Then get out and wrap yourself in a towel and continue sweating for 15 mins or so.

Maybe chuck in some chilli next time too?

Sounds like you're making human soup? :)

piss on your feet (not in the sauna)

Do you... eat the tar? Put it on your skin? What exactly do you do with it?

Besides water proofing wooden boats and long time ago ships pine and fir tar it's been used protecting wooden roof tiles when they were a thing and still are used old wooden churches keeping and restoring.

It's used small amounts in additive in soap or shampoo mostly as a scent, mouth pastille and lozenge a for taste, animal health care kind antibacterial and bug resistant etc. long time ago.

Quite lot of applications especially old times long time ago before more scientifically developed medicines were commonly available. These days less there but it's used as a scent or for flavour.

I believe they were asking in the context of the quote at the start of the thread - "If liquor, tar and sauna won’t help, an illness is fatal."

I'm also still unclear on how it was used to treat human illness (treating boats and roofs is clear enough)

Sometimes you eat the delicious tar, yes!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terva_Leijona

I'm guessing these might no longer contain actual tar.

I think you can just replace it with Vaseline (Petroleum jelly) for 99% of the benefits

That's not antiseptic

Not directly, but it acts as a barrier against microbes.

Use honey instead.

Go to an ER or UC and have them dress a wound for you. They will use a healthy dose of petroleum jelly and generally tell you to stay away from antibiotic ointments.

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