Natural Home Remedies for Sunburn

© Michelle Howard Smith - All Rights Reserved

Summer has to be the most fun season of all for those of us that like to be outdoors.  However, when spending time in the sun you have to take precautions to protect your skin from sunburn and sun damage.  Sometimes with even the best protection, if you are exposed to the sun for an extended time period, sunburn is imminent.  Should this happen, there are home remedies for sunburn to help you find relief.

How Does Sunburn Develop?

When the harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun penetrate the skin, sunburn develops.  The rays from the sun can penetrate deeper into the skin tissues where damage occurs even to the point of skin cancer.  The sun emits UVA and UVB rays that can cause sunburn but UVB rays are the most dangerous to the skin

Sunburn can easily develop after only thirty minutes in direct sunlight.  The dangerous part about it is you will not notice or even feel like your skin has been burned until several hours later.  Your skin will feel warm while you are in the sun but you won’t notice a burn until later.

How Do You Know Your Skin is Sunburned?

Initially when you finally go indoors, your skin will still feel warm.  Eventually, you will begin to develop red blotches where sunburn has occurred.  The area will also be tender to the touch as well as sensitive to even an item of material touching it.  Then, after a couple of days your skin will begin to develop blisters.  If you have a really bad case of sunburn, you may even get nauseous and start vomiting.  Obviously, this is not good.

Natural Sunburn Treatment

While sunburn can make you feel completely miserable, there are some items that you probably have right in your own home that you can be used to for natural sunburn treatment.  I am a big fan of using the very items given to us by nature to treat a variety of ailments.  I truly believe that alternative sunburn remedies that are made of natural ingredients can be just as effective as those manufactured by pharmaceutical companies, with one difference – they are safer.  Below is list of home remedies for sunburn:

• Make a soothing bath from baking soda by adding a half cup of baking soda to lukewarm bath water.  Allow your body to soak for 20 minutes or so.  The baking soda will cool your burn, helping to alleviate irritation and pain.  When you get out of the tub, allow your body to air dry so you don’t cause any friction on the burn.

• Break open a leaf from an Aloe Vera plant and rub the sap onto your sunburned skin.  This substance inside of the Aloe Vera plant helps to relieve pain and inflammation caused by sunburn.

• Take Apple Cider Vinegar and apply it by dabbing on sunburned areas with a cotton ball.  This will help to prevent chafing & peeling.  The vinegar is a natural antiseptic with antibacterial properties so it will help to prevent infection as well.

• Make a cup of tea by steeping two tea bags that contain all natural black tea (no additives).  Allow the tea bags to cool and then use them as a cool compress on sunburned skin.  This will also help to detoxify the skin and reduce any inflammation.

Using one or a combination of these natural home remedies for sunburn will help to reduce the pain and inflammation you may be experiencing resulting from your fun in the sun.  Remember however that while these alternative sunburn remedies will help get your skin on the mend, the best remedy of all is not to get sunburned in the first place.  Always make sure to wear a sun block lotion with an SPF of 30 or greater.