10 sunburn-soothing tips
Try one of these home sunburn remedies to care for your stinging skin
It’s hard to resist soaking up the first few rays of summer sunshine, but sometimes lounging in the sun can come with a price. If you forget to put on sunblock, you can end up with a nasty sunburn. The outer layers of your skin become inflamed by overexposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays, and the affected area gets hot and tender. Fortunately, there are some tried and true home sunburn remedies that can soothe your stinging skin. Try these ten suggestions to cool off, but remember: repeated sunburns cause your skin to age more rapidly, and increase the risk of cancer, so slather on that sunscreen the next time you venture into the sun.
1. Soak it up. For immediate relief, soak the sunburned areas in cold water (but not ice water) or with cold compresses for 15 minutes. The cold reduces swelling and wicks away heat from your skin.
2. Take a dip. If you’re burned all over, take a soak in a cool bath to which you’ve added oatmeal. You can either buy a colloidal oatmeal product, such as Aveeno, or simply grind up a cup of oatmeal in a food processor and add it to your bath.
3. Give yourself a green tea compress. Brew up a pot of green tea and let it cool. Soak a clean cloth in the tea, and use it as a compress for sunburned areas. The tea contains ingredients that help protect the skin from ultraviolet radiation damage and reduce inflammation.
4. Freshen up with mint. Use the cooling, aromatic qualities of peppermint to quell the scorch of a sunburn. Either make peppermint tea or mix two drops of peppermint oil with a cup of lukewarm water. Chill the concoction and gently bathe the sunburned area.
5. Bring veggies to the rescue. For extra-painful spots of sunburn, rub the area gently with sliced cucumber or potato. They contain compounds that cool the burn and help reduce swelling.
6. Try some vinegar. Vinegar contains acetic acid—one of the components of medications such as Aspirin. It can help ease sunburn pain, itching, and inflammation. Soak a few sheets of paper towels in white vinegar, and apply them to the sunburned areas. Leave them on until the towels are dry. Repeat as needed.
7. Take a vinegary bath. If the sunburn itches, take a cool bath, but add two cups of vinegar to the bathwater before you get in.
8. Coat yourself. Mix baking soda and vinegar to make a thick paste, and slather it over the sunburned areas. Apply the salve before bedtime, and leave it on overnight.
9. Make your bed sunburn-safe. Sprinkle your sheets with cornstarch to minimize painful chafing. (Use this technique only for bad sunburns, since you’ll have to wash the sheets afterward.)
10. Go for aloe. Apply a light coating of pure aloe vera to the sunburned skin, using either a fresh piece from the plant or in the gel form you can buy at the drugstore. If you buy the gel, make sure it’s 100% pure aloe vera.
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Adapted from 1801 Home Remedies, Reader's Digest
Vinegar works like a charm! I remember using this method as a kid, as recommended by a friend of my Dad's after I got a bad burn on the tops of my legs in a canoe race. For years since then I've used a variety of standard drugstore aloe stuff, and tried some natural aloe. The aloe gel never worked well for me - made me too sticky and stiffened the skin like I had a candy coating on me. Started using a Banana Boat "after sun" lotion about 6-7 years ago, which works like a charm to prevent peeling and gradually help a burn fade and heal. Yesterday I got a pretty bad burn on my back as a result of not reapplying sunscreen after I lost a lot of it to my shirt... duh. Feel like a moron for letting it happen but decided I needed to try this old remedy again. Blotted cider vinegar on my back and shoulders with soaked paper towels, then let it evaporate. Once dry, applied the "after sun" lotion, put on a soft shirt and went to bed. Woke up feeling okay, with a much less angry red burn this morning. Showered, avoiding directly soaping the burned area, patted dry, then splashed some vinegar, let it evaporate, ant put some more lotion on after dry. Feeling like I have been healing from this sunburn for four days and I'm less than 24 hours in. Will always use vinegar now - thanks for this info - helps a ton!
I do NOT recommend peppermint oil. I had a bad burn and still do. I tried this remedy and was immediately INTENSLY ITCHY!! it was so unbearable!! I tried to rinse it off right away and it was worse. I sat for hours with icepacks on my chest for little comfort. I do not recommend this at all. Nor do I recommend roasting in the sun!! LESSON LEARNED!!
Do not use any type of vinegar. I tried vinegar one time for a sunburn and guess what it fidnt work. I was off work for two days with the burn. I was a life guard. When I returned to work after using the vinegar two days prior to returning to work, I ended up with. 3 degree sun burn on my chest and had to sleep in a recliner for two weeks straight. The reason I had to do so is because I had to go to the doctor 3 x's a week to have my chest scrub with a brush. SO MY ADVICE TO YOU IS DO NOT USE VINEGAR.
Vinegar on sunburns is definitely the one thing that works.
Don't try anything else, not aloes, not your sunburn cream, not ice, not cold water, VINEGAR. It's MAGIC.
DO IT.
A body lotion with aloe and or cucumber in it is good as well (as long as there's no mineral oil, glycerin or lanolin in it, they hold in the heat) mixed with a few drops of pure lavender essential oil and a couple drops of pure peppermint essential oil. Lavender is great for healing, especially burns and peppermint leaves a nice cool sensation. The lotion is the medium but also helps prevent peeling. Pure aloe won't moisturize the skin so using a lotion with it is best.
This is going to sound kinda painful........but believe me this does work. I am a fair skinned Englishman and Canada's summers were too much for my pale skin. I got a severe sunburn in my first year here and called my Grandmother over in Ireland for one of her "Home" remedies....her reply......."get yerself in a hot bath and soak a while"....I did this and it stung like all hell........but the next morning, the pain had gone, I was still red, but I was not suffering whatsoever.....try it, it works.......you have nothing to loose!!!.........showers are good too, as being as stupid as I am, I got myself burned again this year.....I never learn, and I took a HOT shower.......same result.....so much so I was out in the sun the following day (with lots of sun screen) and I have gone from a pasty white to a rich golden brown colour...........thanks Grandma, you are one in a million....you helped me AGAIN!!!!..........please try my Grandma's remedy....IT HONESTLY WORKS!!!
Hi Neil, I looked up the aspirin/acetic acid relationship and apparently, there is a relation, as aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) is a chemical created through a combination of acetic acid and salicylic acid. Check out this site from the US government: http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00314.htm
I got a fairly bad burn yesterday on my arms shoulders, the back of my neck and face.
I came home and immediately applied White Vinegar to the burn and went to sleep.
I slept soundly through the night without pain and woke up refreshed 8 hours later.
My face was brown and my arms and shoulders still red. I reapplied the vinegar to my arms and shoulders and the arms are turning brown now a few hours later. The shoulders still feel hot so I will reapply.
It works! I am brown and didn't suffer much discomfort from the burn. Not a good idea to get burned in the first place but IF it does happen I will in future use Vinegar!
I can say that vinegar DOES work! I'm sitting here as I type with a severe sunburn and the only relief I have found is by soaking paper towels with vinegar and letting then rest on my back. However with that said, I would NOT put vinegar on already blistering sunburn or any area that has an open wound!
I cannot comment as to the validity of the use of vinegar for a sunburn (I have heard of this before) however, acetic acid is most definately NOTone of the components of aspirin. Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid and has NO relation to acetic acid. Indeed if aspirin were the cure, there are asprin rubs on the market. Again i cannot say it is a good idea to use them, but for the sake of making sure this is factual, I thought I would comment.