The Best Home Remedies for Sunburn Relief

Have you spent the day outside recently only to realize the sun was stronger than you realized or you didn’t apply the sunscreen properly? Try these home remedies for sunburn to help ease the discomfort.

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Sunburn Remedies that Work

Everyone deserves to be able to enjoy a fun day out in the sun once and awhile. This can be a fun way to reconnect with nature and spend time with friends, but any kind of prolonged exposure to sunlight can put you at risk of getting a sunburn. Here are a few of the best home remedies for sunburn to ease your pain.

What is a sunburn?

According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, “Sunburn is an inflammatory reaction to ultraviolet (UV) radiation damage to the skin’s outermost layers. At the heart of it all is melanin, a pigment that gives your skin its color and defends it against the sun’s rays. Melanin works by darkening your unprotected sun-exposed skin. The amount of melanin you produce is determined by genetics, which is why some people get sunburned while others tan. Both are signs of cellular damage to the skin.”

Get Hydrated to Prevent Damage to Skin

When you get more hydrated, it will help you to fight off the damage that you get from a sunburn. Directly following your exposure to the sun, go drink some water. A more hydrated body will distribute fluids to the areas that need hydration, and your body can more easily begin the process of healing that is going to follow. It also helps if you go ahead and run some of the cool water over your burned area. This will stop the heat from continuing to cook the layers of skin where the heat is trapped.

Baking Soda Paste Sunburn Remedy

A baking soda paste can help you to heal your burn more quickly. All you have to do is mix some warm water into a cup with a hefty portion of baking soda so that is has a consistency much like a paste. Once is soft enough to rub onto your burn, gently spread the baking soda paste over the burned area of skin. This will help you to alleviate some pain, and allow the body to heal a little more quickly.

Tea for Sunburned Skin

Brew a cup of black tea and allow it to cool. Then using a clean washcloth, apply it to sunburned skin. The tannic acid in black tea helps draw heat from sunburned skin and helps restore the pH balance. Add mint to the tea for a more cooling effect! You can use peppermint essential oil or use mint tea.

Witch Hazel for Sunburn Pain

Wet a washcloth with witch hazel and apply it to the skin three or four times a day for 20 minutes. It will help to minimize pain and itching.

Essential Oils

Add some lavender essential oil or chamomile essential oil to your bath to help relieve some of the stinging and pain or add it to the aloe gel and rub it on the affected areas.

Organic Aloe Gel

If you can, pick up some organic aloe gel. This marvelous gel will help to both sooth and heal your skin. It is great for bringing down the inflammation that is caused by burns and will put your skin on the right path to healing.

Cool Water or Ice

A cool bath, shower, or moist compress takes away heat and pain. Don’t use any bath oils or lotions on a fresh sunburn. You can also use an ice compress to soothe the heat and pain from the sunburn. Just don’t put ice directly on the skin!

Oatmeal Bath

With this remedy, all you have to do is put some uncooked oatmeal in the bath. If you don’t want the oatmeal freely floating around in the water then you can place the oatmeal into a sock to make it like a large teabag, but you don’t want the water to be too warm or too cold. It should be water that is about temperature of a bath that has gone cold. One the oatmeal has soaked for about 30 minutes, get into the water.