16 Folk Remedies for Headaches

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Cruikshank physically embodies the pains of a severe headache as a group small demons who here attack a man collapsed in a chair next to a fireplace, holding a bottle of medicine.
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George Cruikshank

Old-Fashioned Headache Tips

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Here are 16 “sure-fire” folk remedies for headaches. Back then, they didn’t have that warning, “Don’t try these at home”! (But we do now, so proceed with caution!)

It may stretch the imagination but these are real folk remedies for headaches back in the day. As an aside, we’ve heard that humor is a great way to relieve stress so maybe these weird ways to cure a headache will tickle your funny bone, if nothing else! 

  1. Place leeches on your forehead.
     
  2. Rub cow dung and molasses on your temples.
     
  3. Tie a buzzard’s head around your neck.
     
  4. Use powdered moss as snuff.
     
  5. Have someone else rub your head; the headache will be transferred to that person, but it will be less severe.
     
  6. Have a relative read chapters of the Bible to you.
     
  7. Stand on your head or spin around until you are dizzy.
     
  8. Soak your feet in hot water to draw blood from your head.
     
  9. Run around the house three times.
     
  10. Ask a seventh child to blow in your ear.
     
  11. Put a buckwheat cake on your head.
     
  12. Rub your head with a piece of stone containing iron ore.
     
  13. Wrap damp cloths around your head and burn scented wood.
     
  14. Plait a handful of hair very tightly on top of your head.
     
  15. Lean your head against a tree and have someone else drive a nail into the opposite side of the tree.
     
  16. Tie a leather thong tightly around your head. (If this fails, you may tell your friends, “The thong is over, but the malady lingers on,” which will give them headaches.)
     

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Seeking more old-fashioned advice? Check out 100 Ways to Avoid Dying!

About The Author

Heidi Stonehill

Heidi Stonehill is the executive editor for The Old Farmer’s Almanac, where she focuses much of her time on managing content development for the Almanac’s line of calendars. Read More from Heidi Stonehill

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