How to Treat a Sun Burn

This post is part of my Summer Beauty Tips Series, a collection of posts for the summer season. You can read the rest of the series here.

How awful are sunburns?! Ugh! I know now that it’s the summer, we are all prone to them.

If you are suffering from a sunburn, here are some tips to help you out. But first of all, why weren’t you memorizing my head-to-toe sun screen tips? Naughty!

Load up on cool moisturizers. Aloe vera gels is number one for this, though if you can get fresh aloe vera, that’s even better. You can also apply calming lotions. Put it in your refrigerator for a few hours before you apply it, so it can be as cool as possible on your skin.

Whatever you do, do not put butter or greasy oils and lotions on your burn. It would just trap in the heat and cause more irritation and discomfort.

Avoid hot showers. Take luke-warm showers instead. Not to hot that you burn more skin off, and not to cold that showering is a dread as well.

Avoid harsh products in the shower. Soaps can irritate your skin even more and it is painful when they contact each other! Try to find some products that are very natural and gentle to the skin (baby shower gels should do the trick).

Avoid the sun. This should be number one, but whatever you do – avoid the sun! Do not apply sunscreen over a sunburn, as it can worsen the inflammation.

If you do go out, stay in the shade and wear loose fitting clothes and hats so that it doesn’t irritate the affected areas.

Hands off! Do not pick, peel, or rub your skin – you’re just making it worse, and taking longer to heal. Leave it alone and let it heal by itself.

Soaked Cloths. If you’re taking the day off to recover, applying a soaked cloth in cool water and applying it on the burns while you sit/sleep/watch TV can help for some temporary relief.

Drink lots of water. It doesn’t do much to our skin, experts say (check out the post Skin Myth – Drinking 8 Glasses of Water a Day Helps Skin?) but it can greatly help with your sunburn. Sunburns can dehydrate your body, so make sure you are drinking plenty of fluids.

Take medications/ See a doctor. You can take aspirin or ibuprofen to reduce the pain and inflammation. If you feel very sick (fever, dizziness, disorientated), are starting to get open wounds, or you feel the burn looks ‘worse’ than usual, see a doctor immediately.

Learn your lesson. I don’t mean to be preachy but you can really learn from this experience! I once got a sunburn when I was a kid, and though it wasn’t too bad – I never had one again. The discomfort and seeing my skin peel off was enough to scare me for life! Plus, it’s not that hard applying sunscreen, you just have to remind yourself – reapply every 30 minutes if you’re out in the sun. I would recommend the spray-sunscreen lotions, they are the easiest to use and really cover every part of your body, especially the areas you can’t reach.

Do you have any tips for treating a sunburn? Please feel free to add your own experiences and tips! P.S. The photo above is from the hilarious movie The Heartbreak Kid (love Ben Stiller!) when his wife got a sunburn from hell on their honeymoon. Basically, you should do what she did – stay in her hotel room and avoid the sun! Just make sure your husband isn’t trying to pick up a new girl. ;)