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How To Treat Nettle Stings

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Here’s a guide to how to treat nettle stings fast, a way that stops them itching and stinging really quickly.

HOW TO TREAT NETTLE STINGS

A lovely weekend.

Visiting a seriously cool Hogwarts like castle.

Walking the best dog in the world.

Picking blackberries.

Fantastic. Except for the nettle stings!

A big rash of horribly ouchy nettle stings on a small child’s knee.

What can you do to treat nettle stings that truly stops them ouching quick?

 

How Not To Treat Nettle Stings

I was brought up on the dock leaf school of nettle sting treatment.

The only problems with this being:

A). Finding a dock leaf without walking through another patch of nettles.

B). Dock leaves never stop nettle stings from ouching! Ever!

To be fair to the poor old dock leaf it does contain a handy anti-histamine, but when you rub the nettle sting with the dock leaf, you can end up rubbing the nettle’s chemicals further into your kid’s skin making it more painful.

So what should you do?

Well, we’re johnny come latelys to this super simple treatment for nettle stings after years of hapless ignorance, but it has worked like a treat for us.

 

1. Pour Water!

Just rinse the nettle stings with water, touching them as little as possible.

If you can sluice them under a tap or wash them in a stream brilliant, but a good splash from a water bottle is fine.

The water washes off the chemicals that sting.

Treat nettle stings - rinse with water

Rinse with water

After washing pat dry gently.

Then for the final act.

 

2. Sticky Tape!

Apply a strip of any tape you can get your hands on.

Then quickly rip if off.

The tape will put out any pesky little nettle hairs that have got trapped in your skin. You can do it a couple of times just to be sure.

Sticking plaster tape or a plaster, (worth carrying everywhere!), work great. As do duct tape or even washi tape. (Use gentler tape on smaller kids).

Treat nettle stings - sticky tape

The tape pulls out the nettle hairs

It’s a simple as that.

Really hope this works for you, next time one of your lot get stung.

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Nettle stings - how to treat nettle stings fast