It’s summertime! My favorite time of the year. I can’t lie, I love being out in the sunshine and the heat, playing in the water…but, what do you do when you’ve had just a bit too much summer fun, and too much sun, and you end up with a sunburn?
The following are some tips and recipes for helping to soothe your sunburn without all the chemicals.
If you have gotten a sunburn that is on the mild side, you don’t necessarily need fancy over-the-counter pain relief products. Many sunburns get relief with natural remedies. Keep in mind if you have a severe 2nd or 3rd degree burn, you need to see a doctor for medical treatment.
Hydrate Your Skin
It is more important than you realize to be hydrated when you have a sunburn. That includes hydrating from the inside and the outside. Hydrate by drinking plenty of water and other healthy fluids, avoiding alcohol and caffeine, both of which can lead to dehydration. Hydrating your skin is best with water or herbal tea. If you like watermelon, and really, who doesn’t? You can even hydrate from the inside with a luscious, ice cold piece of watermelon, or two. You can then hydrate the skin on the outside by keeping it moist and cooled off, starting with a cool shower, then using cool compresses on the area.
Apply Aloe to the Sunburn
So many people use Aloe Vera gel for their burns, that they buy in the drugstore, but most of those sunburn gels have lidocaine in them. I really don’t want to use that on my grandchildren or myself. I prefer to buy just Aloe Vera gel and make my own sunburn relief spray. The reason is because aloe is so soothing and cool to the skin. It cools off the burn while also helping it to heal more quickly. If you don’t have any aloe in the house, but have an aloe plant in your backyard, you can use gel directly from the leaves of that plant and apply it to your burn. The store-bought varieties should use pure aloe instead of having preservatives and other ingredients you don’t recognize, but not all do. You can find the brand of Aloe gel I use here. If your sunburn is causing blisters, it is a 2nd degree burn, and needs medical intervention.
Use Essential Oils
One of my very favorite things to use after getting too much sun is a homemade soothing after-sun spray. Instead of just having aloe vera gel in it, it has vitamin E oil, fractionated coconut oil, and essential oils. You can get my recipe here: Soothing After Sun Spray
Wear Loose Clothing
While your sunburn is healing, you should be resting and keeping as cool as possible. Stay out of the sun or cover up if you need to go outside. While indoors, wear loose-fitting clothing with breathable fabrics. Nothing you wear should be tight or restricting, so you might want to remove your bra if your shoulders were burned. The pain should subside within a few hours or the first couple of days, depending on how badly you were sunburned.
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