Bananas became REALLY popular when followers of Douglas Graham’s 801010 Diet advertised themselves to be eating 30 bananas a day, and still have flat bellies! But aside that, bananas are so incredibly versatile – I certainly did not know half of the points made here! Be amazed too:
1. Hair treatment: 2-3 ripe bananas (1 for short, 3 for really long hair). Peel, blend. Massage into hair. Leave for 15 minutes. Rinse, shampoo hair. Your hair should be silky smooth. Add a TBSP of olive oil if you wish.
2. Teeth whitener: Considering bleaching to get pearly whites? Rub banana peel on your teeth instead. Do this for about two minutes twice a day when brushing your teeth and you’ll skip the chemical treatment any time. By the way, strawberries do the trick, too.
3. Wrinkle Prevention! Nourishing 3-time-a-week banana anti-aging mask:
1 small banana, 2 TBSP fresh cream, 1 TBSP honey, 1 TBSP oat flour. Mash banana with a fork, add remaining ingredients.
Add more oat flour for a thicker consistency. Apply to face and neck ,leave on for up to 30 minutes.
Rinse with water, dab on some rose hydrosol (tonicum), allowing your sking to dry naturally. Also great for dry skin.
4. Insect bite itch relief. Rub some banana peels on the bites to alleviate the itch.
5. Warts Treatment. Get rid of warts with bananas as they are rich in potassium, which is said to help treat warts. I actually saw that on a friend when I was a kid: she had warts on her fingers, and her mum wrapped banana peel (inside towards skin) around the affected fingers and taped them airtight.
6. Bruises, Cuts, and Scrapes Treatment. Potassium also helps with the healing process for cuts, scrapes, and bruises.
7. Get Rid of Splinters. Can’t get that pesky splinter out of your skin? I feel your pain. Luckily, if you press banana peels onto the splinter, the fruit’s natural enzymes will work to get that sucker out.
8. Skin Exfoliant– with a banana sugar body scrub: 1 ripe banana, 3 TBSP granulated sugar 1/4 tsp vanilla extract or favorite essential oil. Mash ingredients with a fork. Do not overmix as it will get too watery. Slather onto body in the shower (before turning the water on) and gently massage all over your body. For the face, massage only banana (skip the sugar) there, avoiding the eye area.
9. Birds & Butterflies Attraction. Like humans, birds and butterflies just love the taste of bananas. Leave a banana out side if you’d like to watch birds.
10. Plant Fertiliser. Dry and grind banana peels, they make excellent mulch for seedlings and young plants.
11. Leather & Silver Polisher. Save yourself the money by skipping the toxic cleaning products. Instead, rub banana peels on silver or leather surface and buff with a cloth.
12. Combat Aphids. Nobody likes damaged plants. Bury cut up banana peels approximately 6 cm deep around the plant.
13. Dog Treat. Bananas are a perfectly safe, perfectly healthy treat for your pooch – one facebook user reported her dog to get a foamy mouth though. Maybe just producing too much saliva from the unknown taste? https://tinyurl.com/banana-for-dogs
14. Water Filter. OK, this is perhaps a bit far out, but research has suggested that banana peels are able to absorb toxins in polluted rivers. So if you ever get lost in the middle of nowhere with only a banana peel , you’ll be ready!
15. Ice Cream. Craving sweets but don’t have the waist, calories, time or budget? Just blend a frozen banana ( food processor or blender). Add cacao for chocolate or vanilla or cinnamon, or all three. It tastes surprisingly similar to soft-serve! Aaaaand it…
16. Makes you happier. Bananas can help treat depression – all that potassium can improve your mood. Bananas are also a great source of B6.
17. Movie Stars. Bananas can be watched on the big screen, in the 2012 movie “Bananas!” This is the film Dole does not want to see. Buy organic!
18. Almost fully edible. You cannot only eat the banana itself, but also the banana flower and even the banana trunk! (I saw it on Dual Survivor once. And it looked tasty!)
19. Water Collector. If you cut a banana plant and carve out the left over trunk (in the shape of a cup), it will fill with pure water. Again, Dual Survivor, same episode. It was on TV, it must be true 😉
20. Eco-Packaging. Banana leaves are waterproof – well, aren´t ALL leaves waterproof? Ok, but these are HUGE and I have seen them being used as containers for food, and plates. As seen in Thailand, Indonesia or Malaysia for example.
21. Ripening booster. Bananas make the fruit around them ripen faster. They produce ethylene gas while ripening and this lets the food around ripen too. So if you have unripe fruit, store it next to a banana. And if you want your food to last longer, store your bananas else where.
22. Clothes. Banana plants have been long used as a source for high quality, soft textiles, e.g. in Japan!
23. Paper. And banana plants can be used to produce paper, artisty hand made paper as well as industrial paper.
24. Glue. Sap from the banana stem and is sticky enough for adhesive use.
