I looooove summertime. The pool, the sun, the beach! It’s all good in my book. But what happens when you’ve spent a little too much time in the sun, and suddenly your shoulders are beet red! Sunburns can be super painful & look awful. We’ve all been there.
Take it from the girl who turned red 2 days before her beach elopement in San Diego. It was noon and disappointingly chilly for May at the beach, but the sun still got me. I had to pull out all the stops to make sure I didn’t look like a lobster in my wedding photos!
So let’s talk about some natural sunburn remedies that you can bust out next time you get caught in the sun too long.
Do This First
The first step is to get the heat out of the burn. If you don’t cool the skin, you’ll keep burning over the next few hours. Pulling the heat out of the burn with some gentle ice treatment can save you from the problem getting worse.
It’ll probably take a few sessions of ice packs to truly cool the skin. Also avoid getting back in the sun to make sure the damaged skin doesn’t continue to get irritated.
Natural Sunburn Remedies
I keep a series of ingredients on hand during the summer to treat a sunburn.
Keep in mind that the severity of your burn will have a lot to do with how quickly you heal and how effective a treatment can be. If you have a severe sunburn, you may need to seek professional medical attention. These natural sunburn remedies work best for sunburns that are not extremely serious. If you have any concerns, consult your doctor immediately.
You can use some of these immediately with the ice treatments and some should wait until after the heat is gone. Fat will trap heat in the skin. This means that putting oil or tallow or another high moisture treatment that is oil-based might actually make your sunburn worse. Make sure the skin is cooled off before using any moisturizer that is oil-based.
Lavender Oil
Lavender essential oil is my #1 for any type of burn. This makes it perfect for sunburns. It’s cooling and soothing to the skin. Lavender also has incredible healing power. It works better the sooner you can get it onto the burn, so don’t wait a day or two to start treating. Lavender accelerates the formation of new tissues around a wound and promotes collagen replacement.
Note: Essential oils are not *actually* oil. You can use these on your burn right away without trapping heat. In fact, they have the opposite effect!
Peppermint Oil
Peppermint oil can be used along with lavender directly on the skin. This oil is good for cooling the skin and promoting hydration. Used in conjunction with lavender oil, these essential oils can help speed your healing process along.
Aloe
Aloe is my initial moisturizer of choice. Sunburned skin is super dehydrated, and keeping it moisturized can help prevent major peeling later. I like to use aloe to start with because it’s water-based, so you don’t have to worry about the heat getting trapped in your sunburn. Aloe is also an excellent carrier for your essential oils!
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is a beloved friend of mine. I use it for literally everything. Food, skin care, essential oil carrier. I love it! Coconut oil is extremely moisturizing and has amazing benefits to your skin that will help protect it and promote healing while hydrating your damaged, burned skin.
Beef Tallow
This is a weird one, but stay with me. Like I said, I got a bad sunburn 2.5 days before my BIG DAY. I had to get rid of the redness. There was no other option. I used EPIC brand beef tallow on my skin. Warm it up in your hands to soften it enough to slather, and go for it! You’ll smell a little funny — I mean, it *is* beef tallow. But it’s very moisturizing and contains lots of vitamins and minerals that will help your skin heal. This is also a fat-based moisturizer, so use lots of ice first!
And there ya have it! My top 5 natural sunburn remedies! Stay beautiful this summer, get lots of sun, and protect your skin.
