My girls and I were devoured by chiggers recently. If you have ever been eaten alive by chiggers than you understand how irritating a chigger bite can be. If you haven’t been bitten by a chigger than let me put it this way; imagine a mosquito bite, now enhance that itchy feeling by 1000 and add molten lava oozing from the bite when you scratch it.

I think the worst part about chigger bites is how long they last. They stay with me for weeks. But not this time! I couldn’t stand to see my babies in discomfort so I came up with a healing recipe.

Let me clear a few things up first. Chiggers are tiny mites. They usually enter by the sock line. They love warm, moist, soft skin (imagine sock and panty lines). They do not bury themselves in your skin. Their saliva is the irritant that causes the terrible, welts and molten lava feeling. Nail polish will not smother them (as lots of people assume) because they are not buried in your skin. In fact, I believe that the nail polish will cause the irritant to stay in the skin longer.

My thought process was this “Oh my God! My skin is on fire! How can I suck out the toxic acid saliva from this blood thirsty spawn of satin?” . I tried it all. I slathered it all on me. I even bought ChiggerRid, which did relieve the itch for the longest but I later found the barrier it leaves on your skin to be irritating and cause me to scratch, which in turn made the volcano erupt.

Then it hit me. The clouds parted. Angels sang. And a vision of Calcium Bentonite Clay almost brought me to tears of joy.

I whipped up a batch with Apple Cider Vinegar and added tea tree oil. I covered the bites. Waited 20 minutes then removed the clay. The itch was gone for hours at a time and I also saw the bites shrinking. I am on day 4 now and the bites I treated and almost gone and the itch is only that of a boring ol’ mosquito bite. The bites I haven’t treated (some places you just don’t want to slather with clay) are still the size of a quarter and burn like crazy when I scratch them.

I’m assuming that you are reading this because you are trying to find a cure for your lava skin. Here it is.

Chigger Relief:

Ingredients:

2 tblspns Calcium Bentonite Clay (buy it here or at the vitamin shoppe)

1/4 teaspoon tea tree oil (buy it here, or Any pharmacy)

Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) to desired consistency (I like about 1.5 tblspns)

In a glass jar add clay and slowly add ACV to desired consistency is achieved. Mix well with a plastic utensil. Add Tea Tree Oil. Mix well.

Apply concoction to bites just thick enough of a layer that you can’t see the bites any longer. Sit back and enjoy the relief for 20-30 minutes. When time is up remove the clay with a with a wet wash rag. Or you can go hose off outside. DO NOT WASH CLAY DOWN YOUR HOMES DRAINS IT WILL CLOG YOUR PIPES.

Do this a minimum of twice a day. Keep remaining clay mixture in the fridge (ITS EVEN BETTER WHEN ITS COLD!!!!!).

I like to apply plantain salve to the bites after the clay is removed. If you don’t have plantain salve Aloe is a great alternative. It relieves itch and helps the skin heal.

The clay mixture has cut my healing time by more than half. How has it worked for you?