Sunburn Remedies

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by L. Farmer (Peoria, Az) on 07/13/2011
★★★★★

I managed to fry my thighs despite my liberal use of sunscreen yesterday. I remember hearing about this site, so decided to look for sunburn remedies. I am generally fairly skeptical of these sorts of things, but decided the only risk involved in me trying the ACV remedy for a sunburn was me smelling like a pickle. So, I gave it a shot. I'm happy to report that although it wasn't a 100% cure, it sure took away most of the red and most of the pain. I was quite amazed. I have survived MULTIPLE sunburns in my lifetime, but have never found such quick relief! I'm a believer! Long live ACV!

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Tiffany (Honolulu, Hi) on 06/26/2011
★★★★★

ACV is absolutely amazing, my younger sister had an absolutely horrific sunburn after a day out with her friends family, blistered on the entire upper half of her body, me and mother have never felt so awful for her. We tried aloe, lidocaine, cold towels, and when we saw this site we had to try it. She said she felt so much better she can actually sleep now. I thank you guys so much for the help! Instantly relieved with one light coat. <3

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Naomi (Dallas, Texas) on 06/15/2011

spray tans are cheaper and better for your skin in the long run

Coconut Oil

Posted by At Eastcoast (D.c.) on 06/14/2011
★★★★★

Yes!!! Organic Coconut oil out the jar, when slathered on a fresh burn or sunburn, seems to alleviate the pain quickly and actually cut down healing time a lot!!!

Coconut Oil

Posted by Dollface21338 (Harford, Ny, Usa) on 07/06/2010
★★★★★

Yay for Coconut Oil! I am fairly fair skinned with a moderate amount of freckles that really come out in the sun, auburn hair, and blue eyes. I usually use a smaller amount of SPF (8 in a tanning oil) and may get a little pink but am tan the next day. And I tend to get quite dark if I build it up. Well I decided to lay out on a float in the pool yesterday and exposed my bum to get rid of the tan lines. I didn't realize until later when I sat down how much damage had been done. After rubbing what seemed like an entire aloe plant on the area, I was still in so much pain. Then I remembered EarthClinic.com and knew that I had coconut oil. IMMEDIATE relief, literally! I can actually sit down and type this. I also have ACV but decided to stick with coconut oil. It just seems so much more soothing than the vinegar. Although I will probably try that the next time, just to see if there is a difference. I'd rather smell like a coconut than a pickle! lol

Tea

Posted by Anita (Muskegon, Mi) on 05/26/2010
★★★★★

I too use tea bags for sunburn in the tub. I find the best results with black tea and even better with a Chinese Black tea. I just asked at one of my favorite Chinese restaurants and they were so kind they gave me a couple boxes, but, it is not hard to find at health stores. For acute burns and chemical reactions that make you feel like your on fire-tea is a natural neutralizer. My father was a physician and this was one of his remedies. I was harvesting hot peppers from garden and making fresh salsa. I washed my hands liberally, and chopped other veggies for about an hour. Since I had even done up the dishes I was sure any acidity was long gone. Rather embarrasing, I went to urinate and in wiping process transferred via toilet paper residual pepper acicidity. Thought I was going to die! Wow! Called Dad, got in tub with 5-7 tea bags and within 2 minutes the pain lessened and by 15 I was totally back to normal. Also, like the young lady stated with burnt hand. Take 3-4 bags and steep in hot water for 10-20 sec. Open bags and like a poultice place over area and cover with a damp cloth or gauze. If blistering has started leave on for at least 30 minutes. The blistering will be gone and you avoid scarring. Hope this is helpful. Anita

DMSO, Coconut Oil

Posted by Susan (Hobart, Tasmania) on 03/05/2010
★★★★★

This is a remedy I found worked for sunburn:

After working up on our roof one day, my boyfriend and I got a bit sunburnt. Naughty, I know.

I keep DMSO in the cupboard for other uses -- boyfriend's inflammatory back pain, my foot pain (plantar fasciitis) as well as other general inflammatory ailments. I had read it was useful for healing heat burns, so I thought I'd try it for sunburn. Everything I've read about DMSO warns to make sure the skin is completely clean of chemical residues. I guess the only way to be sure is to very thoroughly exfoliate the area, so I did this in the shower with a "skin-peel" cloth (no soaps or other chemicals, it's purely mechanical exfoliation). After I'd towelled off I dabbed on some DMSO with a cotton swab. For anyone who's not familiar with the effects of DMSO -- it provides almost instant relief for pain when applied topically. So the burning stopped as soon as I put this on. I let it soak into my skin for about 5 mins, then with another cotton swab rubbed extra-virgin coconut oil into the skin. Well, what a relief! It took the stinging and heat out of my skin straight away. I repeated this several times that night, wearing a clean cotton t-shirt (with no fabric softener in it, just to be sure). It healed really quickly, didn't peel like my boyfriend's sunburn did, and kept my skin looking really good.

It seems like DMSO helps your skin absorb more of what you put on it, so it stands to reason that the EVCO was more able to penetrate my skin and help it "heal". I'm sure the antioxidant properties of the oil were a help to my sun-damaged skin -- as we all know, sun exposure stimulates production of free-radicals, which can cause cancer. I'm not saying this will stop you getting skin-cancer from sunburn, but it did help heal the damage or prevent it from being as bad as it should have. There are also some studies which have suggested a certain level of protection offered by extra virgin coconut oil, that it helps the skin's natural defences where UV light is concerned. Perhaps this is because EVCO is one of the closest substances to human sebum.

Potato

Posted by Alice (Auckland, New Zealand) on 01/01/2010
★★★★★

Potato helped my sunburn

I had forgotten to put on sunscreen when I went to the beach today. I got back to discover my legs were as red as a lobster, and felt like they were burning.

I remembered reading potatoes does wonders with a fever, so I sliced some raw potato and put them on my thighs. The potatoes were cool and soothing, and gave me longer relief. Aloe vera wasn't this effective. The potato slices are sitting on my thighs while I type this up. Give it a go, it helps the burning feeling!

Lukewarm Bath

Posted by Snowdonx (What City, Australia) on 12/21/2009
★★★★★

Severe Sunburn Handling

Basically I had really severe sunburn, apparently when the pores on the skin start to close this can cause severe itching which had me running around the house like a nutcase because i couldn't sit still. Called ambos and hospital and nurse and theres nothing they could advise other than shower. So I started to think outside the box, water is generally soothing and when you sit in a bath i remembered the skin wrinkles this wrinkling basically increases the surface area of the skin and my theory was that it would in turn help the pores of the skin remain open.

So I spent a fair bit of time in the bath each day where it was painful some times up to 4 hrs in the bath the water was at just under luke warm temperature. Mind you I had used a 600ml bottle of the synthetic aloe vera which is no where near the same as the unsynthetic which disgusted me because I hate it when they start making synthesised versions of natural products.

Anyway to cut a long story short the bathing worked a great deal, I ended up sleeping in the bath a couple of times.

This was a painful lesson. If you are working out in the sunlight or aren't getting a regular exposure to sunlight then you will burn easily and may have a severe reaction. The funny thing is i was at the beach with a group of friends and this other guy who works outdoors got the same amount of burning was in the sun longer and basically had no ill effects.

As for the severe itching i encountered i don't know how successful that will be in the bath because it had calmed down a fair bit after the ambulance came and spiked up a couple of times but when i was in the bath everything felt much better. Also this severe sunburn seemed to leave some kind of permanent damage to the pores or skin in general.

Egg Whites

Posted by Lolita (Cushing, Oklahoma) on 11/04/2009
★★★★★

It is amazing what egg whites can do. My sis-inlaw got on this website after seeing that her niece was developing a bad sunburn and she used paper towels and egg whites and put it on her back where it was the worst. Our niece never complained about the burn or any of the usual discomfort that comes with a burn also as bad as the burn was it should have left scars and you couldn't even tell anything was ever there thanks- Lolita

Vinegar

Posted by John (Pearisburg, Virginia) on 10/02/2009
★★★★★

Vinegar cures Sunburns quickly!

I remember when I was about 6 or 7 year old, always going to the swimming pool. At times I would come home with a bad sunburn on my shoulders and back, so my mom would have me lay on my stomach while she would take a small bowl filled with vinegar. Then she would soak a small rag in the vinegar and rub and message the vinegar into the sunburned area, within 5 to 10 minutes later the painful sting of the sunburn was gone. It's also very effective if you have gotten sun poison Too, In just the same technique but takes a little longer to cure.

EC: Any particular type of vinegar, i.e., apple cider vinegar or white vinegar?

Sour Cream

Posted by Maria (Los Angeles, Ca) on 08/30/2009
★★★★★

For a bad sunburn, I have always used plain sour cream by applying it generously over the affected area. It needs to remain on skin for 1-2 hours and then be washed off with just water. This does an excellent job of soothing away the redness and burning sensation. For a really bad burn, you can reapply every hour or so throughout the day. Truly the best thing I have found to work for me.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Raul (Dallas, Texas) on 06/13/2009
★★★★★

I just got a horrible sunburn from washing cars to get money to go to summer camp so i looked up some cures and it took me to this site. Since ACV is the most popular one i decided to try it and it worked perfectly i started feeling relief instantly. Although i do smell like a pickle. i would also recommend trying the coconut oil.

Coconut Oil

Posted by Pinkpanther (Houston, Tx) on 06/11/2009
★★★★★

coconut oil. my children love the smell. It relieves itch and pain. Gently rub in as soon as you find you have a sunburn. The healing process is faster than anything else i have used. -it is an oil so it will be greasy but when you rub it in you can see the skin absorb just what it needs. Spread extra that sits on top of skin to any other area like lotion. *Even if it is not a sunburned area.It is good to eat. Healing inside and out!

Coconut Oil

Posted by London (Sandusky, Ohio) on 04/28/2009
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

Yes, Coconut Oil is really great for sunburns!! I had a big Jar of Extra Virgin Coconut oil sitting in my medicine cabinet. The other day, My 3 year old got a severe sunburn on her shoulders, face, and arms. For two days, I have been applying the Coconut oil on her skin, nightly, after her bath, and it's great!! It works. especially yesterday, my Mother and I noticed within a half hour after giving her the rubdown, the redness went away significantly, it was amazing!!

Avoid Aspartame

Posted by Terri (Pittsburgh, PA) on 04/27/2009
★☆☆☆☆

WARNING!

Aspartame is POISON. 19 years ago i started getting a rash when i was in the sun for any extended period. I went to the doctors and he was not able t figure out what was causing this. then my hair started falling out. i was sent to a dermatologist and after much lab work and other test it came back that i had developed Lupus. I was taking a number of different medications. In 2002 a friend emailed me an artical on aspartame and how it can affect lupus, MS, MD patients. I stopped using that poison that day. Over the next few months my test were showing signs of improvement. After a little more than a year i was off of all medication. i just had my yearly check up and everything is still great. STAY AWAY FROM THAT POISON

Tomato

Posted by Karin (Vina del Mar, Chile) on 03/28/2009
★★★★★

Sunburn relief with Tomato:

When I was a kid we didn't have sunblock like now and I used to get very nasty sunburns. I remember my Mom used to sliced some tomatoes and cover the affected area with them while I was lying down. She made me drink plenty of water with an aspirin. Sometimes, when she had an aloe vera leaf available,she would cover my read skin with that natural gel. Fortunately, I have not suffered any sunburn since I discovered SPF -maybe because so many painful memories makes me not forget to put it on...