Guest post by James Duscio, a BJJ black belt under Walter Cascao Vital. He runs Cascao Evolution BJJ out of Las Vegas nv.

Hopefully you belong to a gym that mops and disinfects the mats daily. Hopefully you have training partners that are washing their Gi’s and rash guards after every class. Hopefully if one of your training partners has a contagious skin infection, they will stay off of the mats until they are healed. And hopefully you are showering right after every class. But even with all of these precautions, sometimes the fungal skin infection known as ringworm slips through the cracks and makes a home on your skin. Now there are medical creams out there to help treat it, but sometimes those don’t work well or you just want some more options. Here are three natural remedies that can have powerful results.

Colloidal Silver

This was the go to bottle before antibiotics were discovered. It has shown to have antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal properties. Just apply it to the effected area a few times a day and watch the ring worm dissipate from your skin pretty darn quickly. You can buy this pretty inexpensively at any health grocery store or online at amazon.

Oil of Oregano

The benefits of essential oils are quickly emerging. They harness the power of plants in a very concentrated form and tend to have some solid results without the common side effects medications can give you. This oil is an antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal combatant. Apply the oregano oil a few times a day to the effected area and it will soon shrivel up fade away in a few days. One precaution though, it does dry the skin where applied, so don’t overdue it.

Garlic

Over and over again, this bulb shows us its worth. Not only does it have antifungal and antiviral properties, but it can ward of vampires and make a pasta taste great. Crush the garlic, make a paste by mixing it with olive oil and apply it to the infected area. Cover with a band aid over night. Repeat, and in a few days, the infected area will start to clear up nicely.

The reality is that when we train on the mat with other sweaty bodies, we put ourselves at a bit of a risk of transferring certain skin infections. Most of the time these can be prevented with simple hygiene habits, but even then, a ring shaped rash can slip through the cracks. Don’t panic, out of all of the infections to get, this is the easiest one to deal with, and don’t feel limited with whatever they sell you in isle three at the pharmacy. Give some of these home remedies a try. And don’t think the list of options is just limited to these three, we have tea tree oil, apple cider vinegar, or even peroxide. Everybody will have slightly different results simply due to the fact that every infection and body is slightly different, so try a few. We can’t just have a good defense against heel hooks, we also need a good defense against ringworm, osss.