Oh, no! I’m all red like a lobster! And it hurts, you can’t take normal shower, even slightly warm water makes a burning sensation. Does it sound familiar after a lovely day on the beach?
In fact, you still apply sun block, but then you sort of forget to reapply it and the time goes by nicely, and the sound of waves makes you sleep, especially when there is someone else who can watch the kids and you can have a long dream come true, meaning to sleep that extra hour, which you can never have at home.
Well, by the end of a day, you realize, usually while taking shower, that you’ve got a sunburn. In some cases yous skin might be already red and burning even on the beach.
Oops…. this happened again. Last time I gave myself a word to never ever forget to reapply sun protecting cream, but…
Whatever happen, it can always be fixed. I don’t even know if there are any products sold in a shop to relieve the sunburned skin, but I always use whatever I have next to me. I grew up by applying yogurt or sour cream on the area of burn, and it always was very helpful.
These days I still may do so, but I don’t like the smell of dairy products, especially on my skin. Aloe Vera is fantastic and of course my best friends, essential oils. Whatever you have from these options use it.
From essential oils try choosing the most soothing, cooling and nourishing.
- Lavender – the best known essential oils for helping with any type of skin burns, including sunburned skin. Lavender works just great in soothing the skin, helps to reduce the redness and promotes healing for the skin
- Chamomile Roman – is extremely helpful with sunburns, it’s my second go to essential oil after lavender in case of sunburns. It’s very soothing and healing in its actions and is just the right choice for burned skin. Chamomile Roman promotes skin healing and helps to reduce skin redness and irritation
- Chamomile German – very similar to Chamomile Roman, in case if Roman Chamomile is not available go for German Chamomile, it is very similar in its actions in this case
- Peppermint – use in moderation, ideal for creating cooling effect on a burned skin, but its better used on a specific area in a small amount, like 1 drops for 1 tbsp of carrier like coconut oil, it works fantastic in a blend, and plus peppermint is very helpful in relieving headaches (which might be the case for some people, like myself, after the sun)
- Copaiba – I like it for it’s anti-inflammatory properties and healing benefits for the skin, it’s very soft and gentle in its actions, I like to add it to blends for helping to heal the sunburned skin, speed up the healing process and reduce the redness.
Basically what do you do with all that? Depending on your skin condition, if it’s a little burn, you can just mix a essential oils with carrier and apply after the sunbath. If you see that your burn is pretty bad, use Aloe Vera gel or juice before or after applying your oil blend. Avoid hot shower and tight clothes.
Aloe Vera is naturally very healing and cooling, great for reducing inflammation and irritation, helps with healing.
Usually if it’s not too bad I have no redness by morning, and no burning sensation in 2 days. If its bad, naturally it takes more time to heal, so keep it in mind. In case of blistering lavender, chamomile and Aloe Vera would be the best options, however you may need to see a doctor.
I had blistering after sunburn twice in my life, when I was at school, never seen a doctor, I used oils (olive oil, sunflower oil), Aloe Vera (right from the flower itself) and sour cream (cooking cream or yogurt), basically whatever I could find on the kitchen, and healed in about 2 weeks. I’m not promoting self-healing, but when I was a kid nobody would see a doctor in my country for sunburn. So grandma’s remedies are my best friends and they come to me naturally as you can see.
You can also use the same oil blend for the kids in case of sun burn, just be careful with peppermint, its very strong for little kids, better to substitute it with German Chamomile which is also cooling in its nature. Same goes for pregnant. Sometimes even Aloe Vera on its own can do the work.
Be happy,
Yours,
Anna