QuikClot belongs in every first aid kit you own – full stop. These are compact and lighweight, so they take up very little room in your kit. I keep a basic kit in each of our vehicles, my range bag, and my classroom. My wife and I have built out a much more comprehensive kit for our home since we live 20 minutes from the nearest hospital. QuikClot is in each and every one.

QuikClot gauze is impregnated with kaolin, which is a compound that activates fibers in the blood plasma, making them sticky and trapping platelets to stop the bleeding. This is the same technology that the U.S. military uses in its IFAK (Individual First Aid Kit) that it issues to all troops.

This product could buy time for paramedics to arrive in the event of a serious injury, especially if the accident occurs in a remote area. Even when an injury is not life threatening, stopping the bleeding helps put the victim’s mind at ease and prevents shock. It is incredible how much certain wounds can bleed even when the cut doesn’t seem that serious. I once cut my elbow with a pair of gas-powered hedge trimmers. It hardly hurt at all and only needed three or four stitches, but my sidewalk looked like a murder scene from all the blood.

Each strip is 3″ wide by 24″ long, so they’re long enough to wrap around an arm or leg to help keep pressure on the wound while the clotting agent is working. There are two strips to a package. At around $20, this product seems pricey compared to some other basic items that you would keep in a first aid kit, but QuikClot is worth its weight in gold when you need it.

Between my landscaping business, market garden, and working on our 18-acre heavily-wooded property, I come into contact with my share of poison ivy and sumac.

The entire poison ivy plant (leaves, stems, berries, and roots) contains an oil called urushiol. This is what causes the contact contact dermatitis for most people when they get it on their skin. Fortunately, you can usually avoid an allergic reaction if you remove the oil from your skin within an hour or so. Fels Naptha laundry bar soap is the most effective way that I have found to remove poison ivy from your skin if you know you’ve been exposed.

They don’t advertise that their soap is effective at removing urushiol from the skin, which is interesting since everyone I have talked to who is familiar with this soap always mentions that they use it precisely for this purpose.

While this soap, as with any other, works best in warm to hot water, I always use it with cold water in the shower. Cold water prevents your pores from opening as much, which is the last thing you want to do if you already have urushiol on the surface of your skin.

The manufacturer does have a warning on the label about using this product on your skin. Would I shower with it every day? No, but I don’t hesitate to use it any time that I suspect that I might have been exposed to poison ivy. You should talk with your dermatologist or physician prior to using it if you are concerned.

I have purchased dozens of bars of this soap over the years, but I can count on one hand how many times I’ve actually used it in the laundry room. With that said, it is a very effective stain remover. I use a cheese grater to shred the bar into tiny pieces that will dissolve quickly in the washing machine. I keep a small container in our laundry room and toss some in the washer when I wash my landscaping clothing. Fels Naptha is one of the best soaps for removing grass stains.

Here’s a tried-and-true remedy that contains a natural plant ingredient most people probably only heard about in a survey botany course, but belongs in everyone’s medicine cabinet – comfrey. I keep one jar in our home first aid kit and one with our camping gear.

Earlier this year, I cut several of my fingers pretty badly while moving a propane grill off the bed of my truck. While one finger did end up needing stitches, I couldn’t believe how quickly these deep cuts healed over as a result of using this ointment, even though the lacerations were on the underside of my fingers, right over the part that bends.

In addition to using it to help cuts heal faster, I rub some ointment onto the surface of my skin when I roll an ankle or get a large bruise.

I usually have to say goodbye to a toenail on each foot after I run a marathon. I apply Dr. Christopher’s Complete Tissue & Bone ointment to the tender toe before going to bed that evening following the race and re-apply it daily until the new nail is formed. I am amazed by how quickly the process goes when I use this ointment compared to my first two marathons when I didn’t.

The product has a very slight grassy smell to it – you don’t have to worry about walking around smelling like an athletic trainer’s office if you use this. The ingredients include: extra virgin olive oil, wheat germ oil, white oak bark, comfrey root, mullein leaf, black walnut leaf, marshmallow root, gravel root, wormwood herb, lobelia herb, skullcap herb & beeswax.

One jar will last you a very long time. The packaging recommends that you keep it in the refrigerator for the longest shelf life possible, but many people (including me) do not. I contacted the manufacturer and asked them about this, to which they told me just to keep it out of direct sunlight and that it would be fine.

While there is considerable debate as to whether it’s safe, medical professionals say not to take comfrey internally. There are alkaloid compounds that can damage your liver if consumed in large amounts.