Athlete’s Foot Powder (James Wong)

This recipe comes from James Wong: Grow Your Own Drugs, published to accompany the BBC series of the same name.

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp dried sage leaves (I bought dried sage because it’s currently too damp to be able to pick from the garden)
• 4 tbsp dried garlic (you can use commercially prepared)
• 7 tbsp (70g) cornflour
• 7 tbsp (70g) bicarbonate of soda
• 24 drops tea tree oil

To make

1. Grind the dried sage in a mortar and pestle, then place in a bowl.  Add the dried garlic, then the cornflour and bicarbonate of soda.  Mix well.
2. Add the tea tree oil and stir until well distributed.

To use

Dust on liberally three times daily until symptoms disappear.  This will usually take a few weeks.  It’s very important to continue for one week after all signs of infection are gone, since dormant fungal spores can cause reinfection.

Storage

Keep in a dry, dark place and use within one year.  We filled a cheap salt shaker (bought for 50 pence) and are using that for daily applications.  The rest of the powder is kept in a screw top jar in the bathroom cabinet.

Active Ingredients

The three active ingredients of this powder have many healing properties that go far beyond their use as an athlete’s foot powder, but their benefits for this purpose are as follows:

• Tea Tree oil is a natural antiseptic and fungicide.  It is also soothing, and the oil penetrates far below the top layers of the skin, going to the source of the problem. 
• Garlic also kills bacteria, having potent antiseptic and anti-fungal properties.
• Sage has antiseptic properties.

My Comments

I made this for a family member who has an ongoing problem with athlete’s foot.  If it works for him that will be success indeed!  It was very easy to make.  Don’t worry about an overpowering garlic smell – the most powerful scent is the tea tree oil!