excerpt from Travelers Joy p. 102-103 by Juliette de Bairacli Levy

For a headache, make a strong brew of wild or garden mint (not peppermint). Take strong drinks of this frequently. Apply the mint cold on cotton cloths to the entire forehead, and bandage lightly in place. Or pound up a handful of lavender sprigs, wild or garden, and infuse them into vinegar for several hours.

Then apply this lavender vinegar to the forehead, using cotton cloths in the same way as the mint brew. Apply also to the wrists and to the nose. A few drops can be taken internally on a lump of sugar, three times daily. Mint vinegar can be made if lavender is not available.

Treat very severe headaches as an illness, and rest in a darkened room and follow a diet of fresh fruits only until the headache is cured. To induce sleep, make a strong tea of wild poppy flowers or heads, and take with honey. Or a tea of lime blossoms or hops or cowslips (can be used alone or mixed) all sweetened with honey.

Help can be had by use of the ‘cool’ things such as slices of lemon, raw potato or cucumber, rubbed and patted onto the temples and across the back of the neck. Direct exposure of the head to hot sunlight is a common cause of headache often severe. The wise nomad people always protect their heads from sunlight, wearing cotton scarves, or turbans, or hats of straw. (Nylon and other plastics are useless.)

For extra protection, keep the head wear sprinkled with cold water. Keep renewing the water if needed. My choice is a wide cotton scarf, and I dampen it well before putting it onto my head.

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