I think band-aids are a big scam.
Growing up I’ve been taught by a nearly OCD mother to immediately “get some Neosporin and a band-aid on that cut!” Seems logical. Blood is gushing from my body, my nerves are zapping me with pain telling me there’s a problem. I should do something! I guess nowadays, that something is a band-aid, antibacterial soap and some antiseptic gel to round out the whole bandage-sandwich.
For the last few years, I’ve bucked this whole tradition. Perhaps out of necessity I’ve recently resorted to paper towels and tape. Much like a band-aid but much more temporary. Over the years of cuts [mainly from kitchen knives or mat board razors] I’ve learned two things that will greatly decrease the healing time of a cut.
- Immediate pressure. Ridiculous amounts of pressure. Force the skin to bond back together again and hold it there for at least 20 minutes
- Give it air.
If you don’t let a cut breathe, clog it up with this moist environment inside of the band-aid-cave, of course there’s a greater risk of infection. The body has been doing this for awhile. Longer than even Homo-Sapiens have been around. This is mammalian code here. No. The ANIMAL KINGDOM! For as long as there have been animals, the body has been evolving the best way to heal these cuts in the most foolproof manner possible.
Platelets are your friend, allow them to do their work. Give the cut air, let it seal itself. This whole Neosporin racket probably cropped up due to the excessive amount of infection due to the use of bandages that were giving these open wounds moist environments. Ever use gauze? That stuff is porous, allows wounds to breathe. Ever look at a band-aid? It’s plastic, with a polymer sealed piece of cloth. It’s shit.
I just got cut pretty deeply the other night. By my razor sharp brand new Global chef’s knife! [=D] The cut was really deep, and I started bleeding immediately. I applied insane pressure, didn’t let up for a good hour and when I released the bleeding stopped, in fact right now the cut doesn’t even hurt. Some of the deepest cut parts seem to have bonded back and this puppy should be healed in no time. These band-aids are just another “make sure it’s 100% germ free or else you’re an unclean diseased peasant” scheme to peddle consumption.
When applying the pressure, they also say it’s good to raise the wound above your heart. A month or so back I was using a fancy potato slicer minus the fancy hand guard and took a sizable chunk out of my thumb. After about 2 hours of hard pressure it was still bleeding strong, so I headed to the ER, and, I kid you not, slowed down just as the doctor was cleaning it. So I got a $500 bandage.
But anyway for the first week or so I did a papertowel cushion wrapped with linen tape I had for photos, and then switched to a bandaid after a week just to shield my hideousness, and I agree, by the end of the day my thumb was clammy, stinky and ripe for infection…worst than with a wad of cotton papertowel. After I was confident it wasn’t going to start bleeding if I hit the space bar too hard, I went bandage-free and it healed fine.