Question About Amount of Borax Added to a Bath

Posted by Mary (North Richland Hills, Texas, USA) on 11/25/2008

Is there a specific amount of borax that should be added to a tub?

My 8 year old son was diagnosed with EITHER scabbies or excema. Well, after one month, three medications and daily applications of Aquaphor, he is still itching. Now, I am itching as well, but have three different looking irritations/rashes. I thought a borax bath might just do the trick.

I also started using tee tree oil on my "other" irritations. Any other tips would be welcomed.

Replied by Ted
Bangkok, Thailand
11/27/2008
391 posts

Scabies is a parasites. Eczema is skin deep issues, possibly fungus, bacteria or immune issues. The borax is more appropriate in dealing with parasites and fungus, but it needs hydrogen peroxide to more effectively deal with them. The borax concentration is saturated solution. In a liter bottle it is over saturated anyway at 1/2 teaspoon. So on a gallon basis, 4 times the amount is about 2 teaspoon. Since a bathtub has between 40 to 60 gallons, I am going to assume we're using 40 gallons, 2 x 40 = 80 teaspoon. Converting to cups, this equals roughly 1.67 cups of borax. A hydrogen peroxide needs a concentration of between 0.5%- 1% for it to work in a bathtub, but is hugely expensive to do so.

I prefer to mix a borax in a liter of water in a 0.75% concentration of hydrogen peroxide and use this as a solution and apply on the skin using a bath towel on the skin. I will save both on the borax and hydrogen peroxide this way. It's done everyday this way for about a week or two.

The eczema is different story. Sometimes aspartame, chewing gum (has artificial sugar), softdrinks, sugar, diet 7 up, diet coke, snacks for example causes metabolic acidosis. Even frequent exposure to chlorine lowers the body's immune system, leading to eczema. A deficiency of omega 3 can cause the body to frequent inflammation of the skin, so a fish oil is in order. A body that is persistently acid, can be neutralized with a baking soda remedy still, such as on a small adult of 100 pounds requires 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda in 1 glass of water for example, the dose is calculated on basis of weight. So a younger child can have 1/3 the weight will require 1/3 the dose, often taken twice a day.

A simpler way to deal, at least temporarily of eczema is for me to apply distilled vinegar a couple of times to the skin to rid of skin inflammation. This seems to work well in superficial cases by killing off the fungus and bacteria. It won't work for long if the person has a deficiency in omega 3, for example, or that the person happens to be consuming acid forming foods or formaldehyde formng aspartame. It also helps to avoid mushrooms and tomatoes as well as yeast food. They tend to promote skin problems. It helps also to reduce chlorine and fluorine consumption from tap water. They both lower the body's immune system by displacing iodine. Hence, occasional iodine supplements from kelp my help some from borderline iodine deficiency caused by consumption of chlorinated water. It lowers the immune system because the chlorine and flourine is a halogen and displaces iodine, which is necessary for normal thyroid functions as well as thymus.

Ted


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