25 Home Remedies for Sunburn

Sunburn is something you get after being in the sun for too long. Like with normal burns, there are different severities of sunburn. Mild sunburn can be pink and red for three days to a week. After the three to seven days, your skin might start to peel a bit. That is nothing to worry about.

Severe sunburn is called sun poisoning and it tends to look more like a regular burn. The skin can be red, blistering, peeling, and you will likely be dehydrated. Some cases even lead to infection.

Home Remedies for Sunburn

 

1. Prevention

One of the best ways to treat a sunburn is to not get burned. Wear sunscreen that has at least 30 SPF (sun protection factor), wear sunglasses, and do not use tanning beds.

2. Wait it Out

If your skin is burned enough to be pink or red, stay inside until the burned area is back to a regular shade. Spending too much time in the sun after you have sunburn will only make it worse.

 

3. Rehydrate

Sunburn can lead to dehydration which is detrimental to your health. Try drinking some sports drinks, juice, or water. Keeping your house cool will also help you to rehydrate since you are less likely to sweat out everything you are trying to regain.

 

4. Stay Cool

Staying cool can stop the mild burning you might get with the red or pink skin. Some ways to get cool that might help are cool baths or showers, cool compress, and fans or air conditioning.

 

5. Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is amazing when it comes to promoting healing because of its ability to balance your pH levels. So if you are thinking about taking a cool bath, consider adding a cup of apple cider vinegar to the water. Do not apply apple cider vinegar directly on your skin, always dilute it, or else it may sting.

 

6. Oatmeal

Oatmeal can help you with the itch you might be suffering from. For an oatmeal bath, you want to crush a cup of oatmeal (you can use a coffee grinder or food processor for this) and put the oats in a cheesecloth or even the foot of a pair of pantyhose.

Once you have the powder in a form of a pouch that lets water in without letting the powder out, you want to just place the bag in the tub as you fill it with water, stirring the water around with your hand every now and again to make sure that the oat-infused is getting everywhere.

Soak in this bath for twenty to thirty minutes to get the most out of this home remedy. Take an oatmeal bath every day until your sunburn has healed.

7. Essential Oils

There are essential oils that can really help you with sunburns. Here is a list of some that can help you. The most helpful essential oils for treating sunburn are lavender and peppermint.

Lavender oil has antimicrobial components. It helps to speed up the healing process, lessens the stinging or burning feeling, and lightens the pinkness.

Peppermint oil is a painkiller do it can help with the burning or stinging you might have trouble with. Or some people even get headaches with sunburns, so this can help you as well.

To learn how to use essential oils in various ways, check out the article How to Use Essential Oils Safely.

 

8. Milk

Oddly enough, milk can soothe the pain and burning of a sunburn. The cool compress mentioned in home remedy tip #4 can be done with cold or chilled milk rather than water. If you want to, you can even add a cup of cold milk to a math before taking a nice soak.

 

9. Yogurt

The probiotics in yogurt will help to calm the pain as well as moisten your skin. For this, you do not want to use whatever yogurt you have at hand in the fridge. Instead, go for plain, full-fat yogurt. You take a washcloth (or even just your hand) and smear on the burned area, leave it there for about ten minutes, then rinse it off in a shower. Do this as often as needed to treat your sunburn.

 

10. Cornstarch

If you have gotten a sunburn, then you know that there are times when your skin can stick to your shirts or even your bedding. Cornstarch should help to stop that from happening. You can rub a thin layer of the fine powder on the burned area, sprinkle some on your bedding, or rub some on the affected area before getting dressed in the morning.

 

11. Black Tea

To use for sunburn, you do not want to drink this. Instead, take a pitcher of water, put some black tea bags in it and wait until the water turns entirely black. Once it looks like black water, apply to the burned area, but do not rinse it off, just let it be. The tannic acid found in the tea will ease the pain, redness, and lessen the recovery time.

12. Eat Up

There are a few different kinds of foods you can eat to heal your sunburn from the inside out. These include berries, sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, oranges, seeds, and nuts. These foods contain a variety of healthy components, like flavonoids, beta-carotene, and vitamins.

 

13. Baking Soda

Add two cups of baking soda to cool bath water before good soak. The baking soda will ease the pain, redness, and general irritation. Take a baking soda bath once a day until your sunburn heals.

 

14. Gentle Soaps

While gentle soaps are unscented, that is exactly why you want to use them. Whatever is used to scent the soap can irritate your skin even more, and you don’t need that in the slightest.

On that note, you want to stop using perfume or other body sprays until the sunburn is gone for that same reason.

 

15. Aloe Vera

This is normally the first go to most people think of when they hear the word sunburn. This gel can help you to heal faster; ease the burning, flaking, and peeling, and it moistens your skin as well. To use this home remedy, simply rub aloe vera gel on your sunburned skin up to four times a day. Do this every day until you no longer have a sunburn.  

 

16. Witch Hazel

Applying this herb to your skin can lessen inflammation and redness. You can purchase witch hazel gel. Rub this gel on your sunburned skin two to three times a day until you sunburn heals.

17. Coconut Oil

This oil moistens you skin while prompting your body to recover from the burn faster. It should be noted that while coconut oil looks like sunscreen when in the container, it should not be used as such.

 

18. Cucumbers

As an antioxidant and a painkiller, cucumber is the perfect thing to make a mask or scrub out of. Using cooled cucumbers, mash or blend them into a paste and just apply it to the affected area. Once the paste dries, rinse it off with cool water. Do this as often as needed to treat your sunburn.

 

19. Potatoes

These fun little spuds can help to cool the burned area and promote faster recovery. You use potatoes in the same way that you use the cucumbers. You mash them up into a paste and then apply the mush to the affected area. Once dried, rinse off the mash. Use this once a day until your sunburn is healed.

 

20. Do Not Peel

A lot of the time, if your skin burn is bad enough to peel, then you tend to help it along. It has been found that peeling away at it is a bad idea. Peeling like that, you can actually damage the healthy skin connected to the dead skin. So instead of peeling it yourself, give it some time and let it remove itself over time.

 

21. Lettuce

This plant has analgesic properties. Boil some lettuce leaves in water, and strain it. Once you have done that, you want to tell the water cool in the fridge overnight. When it is nice and cold in the morning, you can take a couple cotton balls or even just a clean, soft washcloth and gently apply it to the burned skin.

22. Chamomile Tea

Brew this tea like you would if you were to drink it, let it cool, then apply it to your burned skin. The calming elements in this tea that are known for calming your anxiety are also good for calming inflammation and itching. However, drinking the tea is not likely to have much of an effect.

23.  Loose Clothes

It was mentioned in ten how annoying it can be when sunburn sticks to your clothes and bedding. Another good way to stop that from happening (with your clothes at least) is to wear loose-fitting clothes. Looser clothes will also allow the burned the area to breath better which should also the healing process to go faster.

 

24. Leave Blisters Be

Yes, blisters can be annoying and unsightly, but it is best to just let them be and to let them heal. Popping them yourself can actually lead infection, more pain, more redness, and more irritation. If you get tempted to itch or pinch at them, cover them up with a breathable bandaid.

 

25. Relax

Try to keep your stress levels down. Getting stressed over different things can make the redness and itching of a sunburn worse. So try some meditation or mindful breathing.   

Which of these home remedies will you try this summer? Comment below!

References

https://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/a62998/sunburn-remedies/

https://www.aad.org/public/skin-hair-nails/injured-skin/treating-sunburn

https://www.healthline.com/health/sunburn

https://www.medicinenet.com/natural_home_remedies_for_sunburn_treatment/article.htm#how_to_get_rid_of_a_sunburn_fast_picture

https://www.prevention.com/beauty/a20513758/natural-sunburn-cures/

https://www.verywellfamily.com/how-to-make-your-own-oatmeal-bath-289466