The #1 Best Remedy for Burns

One of the best perks about our apartment complex is that they allow us to have a grill.

Not the public charcoal grills on the property that no one knows how to use, although those are healthier, but our own stainless steel grill right outside our backdoor.

Because we're the only couple out of our apartment-living millennial friends that are allowed to have one, all the men bring their own meat over and they cook it together. Men feel like men when they are roasting meat over an open flame. More often than not, it's up to the women to make sure there's something green on the plate that's slated to be 85% protein.

Who knew a grill could build such community.

Since it was my home, I came up with the green. I decided to cut up zucchini and put them in boats of aluminum foil with a lot more butter than necessary inside. Sprinkled with some salt and pepper, I placed the boats inside the grill next to the endless pounds of meat. This way, it would be impossible for the men to forget that vegetables exist.

When everything was cooked through, it was time to take the aluminum zucchini boats off the grill and bring them inside. My husband decided he didn't need any help from utensils, so he grabbed the tops of the boats and tried to move them to a plate as fast as he could. Unfortunately, he moved too fast.

The moment I gasped, "DON'T do that! You're going to burn yourself!" It was already too late. Glorious amounts of burning melted butter scorched my husband's fingers. He quickly pulled his hand away and ran inside. One of his friends immediately went for an ice cube - which FYI, DON'T EVER PUT AN ICE CUBE ON A BURN - but I went for a plant.

Needless to say, not even a plate full of delicious cooked steak could take my husband's mind off the throbbing pain he now experienced. That night, he couldn't even sleep. Burns hurt SO BAD!

But this is how I treated it, and you're going to laugh.

As I mentioned before, as soon as my husband burned himself, I knew exactly what to run to. It wasn't the kitchen sink or ice cubes. It wasn't even my medicine cabinet. I ran to my living room to clip off a piece of plant.

I went directly to my Aloe Vera plant.

If you've never seen an aloe vera plant, it looks like a huge, spikey... monster. I guess.

If you've ever looked at the ingredients in sunburn lotions, you'll always see aloe listed as an ingredient. If it didn't actually work, it would never have been added to creams and gels in the first place. But the thing is, getting natural aloe gel from a plant is going to work so much better than any burn cream you can purchase from the grocery store.

So for this simple fact, it would be a good idea to have your own aloe plants growing in pots in your home. They are super easy to take care of and look wicked cool.

Here's how to use an Aloe Vera plant for all kinds of burns:

Inside each of those aloe stalks is a very slimy gel (which kinda also stinks). Cut off a small piece (or larger depending on the size of your burn) and slice it open. Rub the gel all over the burn. You should find immediate relief from the burn. Keep applying it when needed.

Remember when my husband got burned by boiling butter? The burn was so bad that cutting off a piece and applying the gel wasn't enough. That's why he couldn't sleep. So I went over to my plant and cut off half of the stalk. From the bottom, I stuck a knife inside of it and turned it around in circles to make a hole (this is hysterical). I went over to my hopeless husband and I stuck the aloe stalk over his entire finger like a sock. It looked like I just placed a large green bugle chip on his finger like a little kid. He looked at me like I was insane. I then wrapped all four fingers together so the stalk/leaf wouldn't fall off in the middle of the night. He fell asleep shortly after.

When he unwrapped his hand the next morning, he didn't feel the burning sensation at all. It had completely left. And that's what aloe does. It takes the unbearable sting out of the burn. In addition, it helps the burn/blister heal quickly. According to Dr. Lawrence D. Rosen, a pediatrician at the Whole Child Center in Oradell, N.J., there are factors in aloe that help the cells regenerate and heal faster.

Having an aloe plant in your home is an easy thing to do. Don't wait until you burn yourself to go out and buy one. Buy one now and be prepared for accidents. Because they'll always happen.

The next time someone burns themselves, you'll know EXACTLY what to do. And they'll be thankful that you were ready.