Did you know there are several herbs that can stop bleeding…instantly? And not just herbs, but very common easy to find herbs. Better known as weeds.

Woman bandaging her finger.

They do this by different methods. Some constrict the blood vessels and others help the clotting process.

Here I’m going to tell you about a few herbs that are great for stopping the bleeding – immediately.

Yarrow is a weed found in most yards.  It’s official name is achilies millifolium.  There are several different colors of yarrow, but the wild plant has white flowers.  You can find them at nurseries with yellow, pink or even red flowers.  They all work pretty much the same.

Yarrow is one of those plants that if you cut yourself outside, just go pick the flower or leaves, chew it up and make yourself a spit poultice for the wound and it will immediately stop the bleeding & in most cases relieve the pain as well.

It does this by constricting the blood vessels.  Of course this is just one of yarrow’s many talents, but it’s a biggie.

I can tell you we’ve used this herb on our farm more than once for this.

When we process our meat birds we use very sharp knives.  Up until this year (after my husband bought a Kevlar glove), he cut himself at least once every year.  Using yarrow stopped the bleeding immediately, allowing us doctor up his hand and get back to work.

Yarrow & Shepherd's purse

Shepherd’s Purse

Shepherd’s Purse (capsella bursa-pastoris) is another one of those weeds we find in early spring.  It’s grows profusely in our yard and is a wild weed.

You can pick the aerial parts, everything above ground to dry.

Shepherd’s purse stops the bleeding in a different way.  It actually helps with the clotting process.

A combination of yarrow & shepherd’s purse is the best of both worlds.  Keeping a little jar of this dried and powdered mix around the house is a really great idea for us.

The roots of this plant are actually really great for numbing a tooth ache.

Cayenne Pepper powder

Cayenne pepper

Sounds scary I know.  I would think this would hurt like all get out.  But it’s actually a pain killer in addition to stopping the bleeding.  

This is another one I’ve used on myself in the kitchen, more than once.

I was by myself so I only had 1 hand to open whatever I was going to use.  What I used wasn’t specifically Cayenne pepper.  It was a bunch of powdered hot peppers we grew ourselves a year or so ago that I dried and powdered myself.  I opened the shaker and shook some out on the cut.  

There was an instant of sting and then it stopped and so did the bleeding.  I was amazed.

The constituent that makes the hot pepper hot is what actually blocks the pain in our body.  It will have just a fraction of a second of sting and then it’s gone.

Any hot pepper will work.  So the term “cayenne” in this reference is all hot peppers.  It’s the constituent capsaicin in the peppers that is doing the work.

Another attribute of these peppers is their antimicrobial properties.  Not only will this powder stop the bleeding and help kill the pain, but it’ll also kill any bacteria that might be lingering as well.  An all in one.

Because of the amount of heat in these peppers, you’ll only use small amounts.  It’s nature’s way of showing you how to use them.


I don’t know of anything that can stop the bleeding the way these can. I’ve just never seen anything work so well.

All of these herbs are readily accessible and can be gathered fresh every year. They’re highly abundant weeds that grow everywhere.

Gather and dry yourself a little every year to have a fresh batch in your medicine cabinet. They can help with cuts, scraps, scratches or for anything that causes bleeding.

Recently, I pulled a finger nail off below the quick. Again, I used the hot peppers to stop that bleeding immediately too.

All of them have additional anti-inflammatory and/or antiseptic properties that can help heal the wound as well.

These are super simple herbs you can use to stop the bleeding immediately so you can get back to whatever you were doing.

Let me know if you’ve ever used any of these things before. If not, is it something you might try when you get the chance?

Let me know if you do.