Five uses for garlic that you never thought of…

For thousands of years, people have used garlic to stay healthy, restore virility, ward of vampires, and because of its incredible versatility, they even worshiped the bulbous plant. Today, garlic is used to prevent heart disease, reduce cholesterol, boost the immune system, and protect against cancer. Although there doesn’t seem have much supporting evidence that garlic is useful in vampire slaying– there are still plenty clever ways of using garlic that you may not have heard of before.

Here are our five favourite interesting and convenient ways to use garlic.

1. Mosquito repellent. Mosquitoes are among one of the biggest nuisance that ruins outdoor fun. Luckily the compounds in garlic are naturally harmful to mosquitos and insects have evolved to avoid garlic. By applying garlic extracts on exposed skin or placing garlic cloves outdoors, you’ll be warding off mosquitoes in no time. Not only is this an economical and natural repellent that is easy to make, it is not toxic to the environment and a better alternative than the harmful commercial repellents sold in stores.

2. Hair loss treatment. Garlic could potentially end your problems regarding hair loss. Garlic has naturally high levels of allicin, a compound that is found to effectively treat hair loss. Maybe it’s time to consider garlic instead of spending money on hair regrowth products. Simply rub sliced cloves of garlic on your scalp or infuse oil with garlic and massage it into your scalp.

3. Cure fungal infections. With anti-fungal properties, garlic is an effective way to get rid of athlete’s foot and other fungal infections. By simply soaking your feed in a tub of warm water with a tablespoon of crushed garlic daily, you will fight the infection until it is gone. If the infection is particularly strong in one area, you can even finely slice a garlic clove and hold the garlic piece onto the affected area with a tissue for 10 minutes twice daily.

4. Pesticide. Similar to being a mosquito repellent, protect your lovely plants with garlic as a natural pesticide. Place crushed garlic in a bowl of boiling water and cover for 15 minutes. When it is cooler, funnel the water and garlic into a spray bottle and you can mist your plans to keep destructive pests away.

5. Antibiotic. As a natural disinfectant and powerful antibiotic, crushed raw garlic is a handy plant to substitute commercial antibiotics to kill strains of staphylococcus bacteria and infections. If you are camping or spending time outdoors, keep some garlic cloves handy in case of an emergency. If you have a cut or graze, to prevent the risk of infection, rub the area with a peeled, diced or crushed garlic clove immediately.

Do you use garlic in unusual ways? Share your tips and tricks with the Starts at Sixty community!