Sunburn Remedies the MSE way

BeenieCat

So foolishly i went out yesterday and ended up getting badly sunburnt.

I've read somewhere tat a cup of vinegar in a cool bath will remove some of the heat trapped in the skin and take away most of the pain, has anyone heard of this and does it work?

Or, does anyone have any other remedies to make it more bearable?

WolfSong2000

Ouch - sunburn's not fun. You have my sympathies! Whenever I'm unlucky enough to get sunburned I always slather Aloe Vera Gel over the areas which have been burned (my local Holland and Barrett had a special offer on Aloe Vera Gel, atm, as well). Helps soothe the area, cool it and help it heal quicker - I swear to god the stuff works miracles .

marrowgirl

Aloe vera is great. We used to have a plant in the greenhouse and whenever I burnt myself cooking (a frequent occurance!) I would break off leaf and put the gel from inside straight on the burn. Worked a treat and VERY moneysaving!

HH62

Another vote for aloe vera. Fantastic stuff.

Ben84

I'd be surprised if vinegar does anything good to sunburn, although a cool bath can provide short term relief if it's painful.

Savlon works well on sunburn and helps it heal faster.

LittleMissAspie

Calamine lotion? And keep it moisturised too as it will dry out.

I have an aloe vera plant but I don't think it helped much when I burnt my face last year. A cool flannel was better.

jenhug

soak in a cool bath for as long as you can bear, this will stop the burn cooking. Take some pain relief, and drink lots of water to rehydrate you. aloe gel or calamine milk lotion (its not chalky like the traditional stuff)
My dad was taught this on a first aid course.

Krasnoludek

Another fan of aloe vera, I got burnt last week, snapped off a leaf, sliced it open and rubbed it around, it was amazing how quickly the redness went down the the heat went straight away

K x

tracyk

Lavendar oil always works for me - hope you're feeling better soon...

Edited to say that I've read somewhere that natural yoghurt takes the heat out of sunburn - not sure it would smell very nice though

Savvy_Sue

Now when we were on holiday in Lanzarote, the rep told us that you're not supposed to just break the leaf and put the juice from an aloe vera plant on your skin, you're supposed to let it drain out in water first.

BeenieCat

Hi thanks so much for all the useful replies, unfortunately i don't have or know anyone with an aloe vera plant but i will definitely look into buying one - i remember when i was a kid my friend had one and we used to use it for cuts and burns and it was great. Hadn't thought of it for sunburn though!

All of Saturday night and Sunday all day i was shamelessly whimpering away as the top of my shoulders is soooo painful. Yesterday i laid in a cool bath with some vinegar just to see how that felt - not sure i used enough vinegar but the cool bath was so blissful. But the fiery heat came back as soon as i dried and hasn't improved.

Top of my shoulders has lots of raised bumps kind of like blisters but with no water in(if that makes sense). VERY painful to lift my arms, feels like the skin will rip :(:(

OH keeps telling me i'm going to have to grin and bear it, and my midwife said to try some calamine lotion which i couldn't find any of in the house.

I've been moisturing the area with Aveeno cream which son has for eczema as i've always rated it for really dry skin, but can't tell if it's worked much because i'm still in so much pain!!!