Things You'll Need:
- Cooking oil
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Step 1
Stay calm. Calm down the child. This really does work like magic for removing splinters made of wood.
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Step 2
Get out the cooking oil, and pour into a container appropriate for location of splinter. For example, if it's in your heel pour the oil into a shallow plate so foot/heel will stay soaking. For fingers, try a bowl. You get the idea. You don't need too much, just enough so splinter-ed area can soak.
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Step 3
Soak splinter-ed area for ten minutes or so. Take out, and see if splinter will ease itself out with a gentle squeeze from underneath where it's lodged. If you don't see it move at all, soak for five minute intervals until it either slides out by itself or gets far enough out for you to grab it with tweezers.
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Step 4
My niece had the tip of a thorn going straight up into her heel last summer. It only took a 15-minute soak, and it slid right out The oil soaks into the splinter and it swells up, and begins to "outgrow" its splinter-hole. Meanwhile the oil is also lubricating the inside of the wound so that everything is slippery, making for easy removal (usually just a squeeze!)
