Foot Shape to Reveal Your Heritage

I'm sure we've all seen this one make the rounds all over the internet, from Pinterest to Facebook. But there are so many problems with this I don't even know where to start. 

First off, this really only seems to address European decent. What about Asian, or African, or you know, the various North or South Americas? Second off, the shape of one's feet can vary from family member to family member. Just in our family alone, I have "Egyptian," my husband has "Greek," but our kids? One is apparently Egyptian, the other is Germanic.

The truth is: the shape of your feet can't really tell you what your ethnic roots are any more than saying the shape of your hands can. There has been studies done to see if toe length can show genetic traits, and the ruling is no, the shape of your toes really aren't a good indicator of genes, let alone something like your 'roots' or heritage. Where as genetics and heritage can play a role in certain bone structure, it really isn't a good indicator when it comes to your feet.

Listerine for Blisters

"Home cure: Listerine Use it for: Blisters The classic breath freshener—and powerful antiseptic—can also do a number on blisters. Moisten a cotton ball with Listerine and dab it on your blister 3 times a day until the area dries out and no longer hurts"

This is another one of those that is commonly seen in a large strip of home remedies on Pinterest. I have no doubt this would work, but it still seems silly. Unless you're out camping and forgot the first aid kit and have been walking barefoot through a swampy lake only to realize your blisters have popped, in which case I could understand using this. You see, the main ingredient of Listerine is Ethanol. Yep. It's basically booze. Sure it has a hint of other things, like menthol, thymol, and a few other herbal flavors, but at 26% pure alcohol, that's what's really getting the job done. Really, you're probably better off leaving the listerine on the bathroom shelf and reaching for the rubbing alcohol (a solution of either ethyl or isopropyl alcohol), or even a bottle of rum or vodka in a pinch. Due to its natural antimicrobial properties, tea tree oil is another, more natural route you could go that will help fight germs and dry the blister out if need be. 

I've also seen this pinned stating that "Listerine contains antiseptic and disinfectant ingredients; it has been used for everything from curing gonorrhea to cleaning floors." and that's true--or, at least, it was over 100 years ago when it was created and used as a surgical antiseptic. But when at looking at the turn of century, it's important to remember that it was the era of Cure-Alls; it was fairly common for a lot of items to be toted as a universal solution for anything and everything. For example, Lysol was originally created as an antiseptic disinfectant to fight against cholera. Soon after, in the 1920's it was recommended as feminine douche and preventive for pregnancy after all. Interestingly, this was around the same time as Listerine was suggested as a mouthwash to help fight bad breath (which, prior to that time, wasn't considered such a terrible thing).

So all in all, yes you can use this for blisters, but it's so silly I don't see why anyone would want to.