Sunburn tips

The first sunburn tip should always be: get a good sunblock and use it all the time. Dermatologists recommend this not just for avoiding sunburn, but for protecting you skin from longterm damage and potential skin cancer.

But if it’s too late for that and you’ve already lobstered yourself into pain, misery and peeling, the rest of this post is for you:

• Take a cool bath and sprinkle some baking soda in the water to soothe burned skin.
• Aloe vera gel! Lots of it! Many times a day! There’s some debate as to whether it has healing properties that help skin recover a bit faster, but it’s wonderfully cool and soothing.
• Avoid the sun. This may seem like a no-brainer, but we’re not just talking “no sunbathing”. Don’t go strolling for a bit in the sunshine, either. Your skin is really vulnerable right now. Stay indoors and under shade as much as humanly possible.
• Don’t rub the skin. Pat it dry.
• Don’t peel it. Let it peel on its own.

And I haven’t tried this one (nor will I, since I follow the sunblock rule like a religion), but it sounds fascinating:

TipNut recommends spraying your skin with strong chilled tea.

Not sure how that works, but plain black tea has some caffeine which could stimulate blood flow (and therefore healing) in skin. It also has some mild tranquilizing properties which might soothe.

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Posted in Health and Beauty on July 4, 2010