Painless ways to remove deep splinters

Of all the things that can happen to your child around the house, getting a splinter is one of the most harmless, yes, but it's also one of the scariest for the little one. Getting the splinter is painful enough, but the knowledge that a needle will be required for its extraction is enough to send children into a sheer panic — and it's not very easy for parents to do that to their kids either. Here are a few tips on how to make the next splinter less of a hassle for you or your child.

Med-Health suggests that trying to dig the splinter out with a needle can lead to infection if done improperly. As for attempting to squeeze it out with your fingers or tweezers, that method may also be harmful as it could accidentally break the foreign object in two and make the extraction much more difficult. Besides, these methods can be downright terrifying for some people.

It sounds pretty odd, but many home remedies swear by banana peels as a way of getting rid of your splinters. Do this by taping the white, pulpy side of the peel to the area with the splinter. Some sources such as Prevention say to leave it on for half an hour, while Monroe Newcomers recommends doing the process overnight. The splinter should be drawn to the peel to the point where it's almost ready to come out. That's because the enzymes in bananas have a drawing effect, Monroe Newcomers says. Plus, the antioxidants and vitamins B-6 and C will speed up the healing process. Not to mention your kid might get a laugh out of it!

Baking soda is useful for a great many things, and getting rid of splinters is one of them. Healthy Food House reports that by mixing water and baking soda into a thick paste, you'll have another handmade drawing agent. Apply some and keep it on with a bandage, and keep adding more over time. The process may take between an hour and a day, the website says.

Finally, the last method you could try if you'd rather not get your hands dirty is rubbing essential oils on the splinter. Like the two tricks above, the oils can act as a drawing agent. In the video below, Joanna Hasselman recommends using Thieves essential oil, which is composed of clove, lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus and rosemary. When Hasselman demonstrated the process below, it only took about eight minutes for the glass shard embedded in her daughter's foot to squeeze its way out.

Did you know about any of these alternative methods? Make sure to let us know if you've tried them already and how well they worked — then share this story with your friends!