Lebanese Grandma Versus Medical Science: 5 Health Myths You Will Perpetuate In Spite Of You

In Lebanon, everyone is a doctor. A medical degree is welcome but not necessary and often superfluous. Just ask your grandmother: “where were you and your fancy diplomas when she raised seven children?” In diapers that’s where.

Here are five health pearls of wisdom dolled out at every occasion that are just as entirely well meaning as they are inaccurate.

1. Do not go out with wet hair or you’ll catch a cold…or more accurately you’ll get “slapped by the wind”.

To those reluctant souls who diligently blow dry their manes down to the last strand before going out the door: there have been studies with control groups on the matter. The verdict? Go out with wet hair if you must. Feel cold? Yes. Catch a cold? Nope.

2. Your hair will grow faster and thicker is you cut it on a regular basis.

Remember how your grandmother and mother always nagged you – and still do – about cutting your hair on a regular basis so it “grows faster and thicker”? Yeah…not so much. Hair does not and will not grow any different if you cut it. It may all be a heartwarming optical illusion. Invest in a good shampoo instead.

3. “Never cross your eyes or they will get suck that way”.

Your grandmother’s version of the Boogeyman if you have been unlucky enough to have grown up with strabismus. Safe to say go ahead and cross your eyes at that statement. I’m pretty sure your eyeballs will revert back to their normal positions upon request.

4. The best remedy for a pesky bout of hiccups? A startle, what else?

Never mind the psychological trauma inflicted when accused of stealing candy or lying to your parents, never mind the tears shed and the ensuing drama of self-defense, the important thing is to shock the hiccupping frenzy- and the sanity- out of you. Mission accomplished. Impact undetermined.

5. The best remedy for a burn is toothpaste.

It doesn’t matter which degree, which extent or which body part, Crest Crest Crest…or Colgate. If you have children, stock up on toothpaste in your first aid kit. To those rolling their eyes, this one may actually have some semblance of truth to it: it’s the baking soda in toothpastes that could have an anti-inflammatory effect. Don’t knock it till you try it.

Grandma knows best. Such is the power of a Lebanese Teta.