Many years ago, my dad owned and operated a dry cleaning shop, back in New York. I used to help out on the weekends and other times as well.
I was always told not to use the’silk presser’, which is a machine made of raw metal(no padding or covering on it). The temperature of that presser was set very high and boiling hot steam came through the tiny holes in the metal to make pressing garments easier.
Being me, I didn’t listen very well and went ahead and tried to use the machine. I did fine, I pressed a few garments and they turned out well. So I continued on to the fourth garment but didn’t act quickly enough when moving my hand out of the way to allow the machine to close on the garment.
All I heard was a thump and then a sizzle and the odor of burning flesh permeated the air! I screamed a mind blowing scream(The kind of scream you only hear in movies) The employees ran towards me to open the machine with the emergency release. As the presser opened, there was the flesh of my left hand burning on it and my hand was burned almost to the bone.
An ambulance was called, but while waiting for the ambulance and employee ran towards me with a plant, mashing the’leaves’ into a pulp. He packed the pulp of the plant into the open wound, while another employee poured ice water on my hand.
When we got to the hospital, the Dr. checked my hand, said no damage had been done to nerves and it would heal in time with some pain and scarring.BUT, whoever put the mashed pulp of ALOE into the wound, was the person to be commended. He went on to explain, as he was bandaging my hand, that the ALOE plant has proven medicinal healing factors. The ALOE would actually help the burn heal faster and with less pain.
I do have a scar to remember that day, but I also always have an ALOE plant growing wherever I live. And believe me, it has come in handy, many times. On minor cuts, scrapes and burns the ALOE has helped the healing process greatly.
I learned to stay away from that dang pressing machine the hard way, but I did learn that the ALOE plant is a MUST to have around.