I’d make a wager this is the last thing you ever wanted to think about. Morticians paste or some call it nurses balm, I have yet come across nurses balm being discussed on prepper sites. I wonder how come? If you read my previous article, “The Night the Lights Went Out,” I think you can understand the need for some of this stuff.
Some time in the very near future you may become the caretaker, nurse to someone in your family. If you have had to clean up when your sick person didn’t quite make it to the toilet, well then, nurses balm will have its place among your preps. Heck, it could actually become a barter item. Especially handy when you need to take the overnight Loo bucket out and bury its contents. I can’t imagine nurses, doctors, law enforcement, morticians, search and rescue people, commuters and others who deal with bad smells being without it.
Another use in austere conditions, for us women at least, is butchering wild game. It is not always the sight of something unpleasant that brings up the contents of your breakfast but it is the smell that causes such a reaction.
I live in the woods, animal carcusses are something that happens. One day my big stupid yellow Lab was running out and about the woods. When he returned he was so proud of the present he had dragged home for me. It was a green slimy bowel section of a deer that had been hit by a car and left next to the road in the hot summer sun for at least a couple of days. What I would have given for a little nurses balm that day. I’m tough but that wretched oder was almost incapacitating. I finally did get it buried and put a big rock on top of it so he couldn’t dig it back up, big dogs have disgusting habits. You get my point.
Now, doing some research on this subject I have come across some discussions from nurses working in the emergency room, surgery and cancer wards. They say to use two masks and put a teabag between the masks. Another says she uses an N-95 mask with a few drops of essential oil on the mask.
The anti-stink that works great for my preps is Thieves oil balm. Two reasons; it has a potent aroma of its own and it fights bacteria, viruses and fungi. Caution is advised however, if using Thieves directly on your N-95 mask only one or two drops is needed.
When making this recipe replace the peppermint or lavender oil with Thieves oil if you have it. This balm will keep in your bug out bag or bathroom cabinet for a long time and will be ready when you need it.
I don’t recommend using petroleum products like Vaseline as the base for the oils because they get inhaled into the lungs with no way to get it out which could cause serious complications later. If you need a quick anti-stink use a water based KY jelly product and an essential oil mixture. If you have never used essential oils before it is recommended that you never put essential oils directly on the skin without diluting them first. These oils are concentrated and can harm the skin.
Anyway, I hope this article has given you some food for thought. Our world is changing and even if half of what is being reported comes true you will need to have honed in on many of the skills great granny and great papa used in their daily lives. Stink being just one of those skills.