No one likes to stay indoors during the summer season. The warm weather and sunny skies urge you to explore outdoor activities as much as possible! However, in the course of enjoying yourself, you often tend to forget that the sun’s harsh rays may not prove good for your skin, especially if it is extra sensitive in nature.
At the end of the day, you may find painfully red patches dotting the surface of your exposed skin all over the body, specifically the face. This is sunburn, which is bound to lead to blistering or peeling skin soon enough. Worse, sunburn also increases the risk of developing a deadly type of skin cancer, which is melanoma.
Why Does This Happen?
The sun sends directs ultraviolet rays towards earth. These rays are most potent between 10 AM and 4 PM. When they strike the exposed areas of your body, it damages skin and it become red and painful, even they destroy the DNA present in your skin cells. In other words, they cause genetic damage. If the damage is strong enough and continual in nature, over time, you are bound to develop skin cancer.
Outlined below are some home remedies that should serve to heal your sunburn, if you are already a victim of it.
I. Go For A ‘Special’ Bath
Stay away from strong perfumes or chemical-laden soaps for some time as they cause greater harm by drying out your dried and sunburned skin even further.
1. Oatmeal
Surprisingly, oatmeal provides tremendous benefits to the skin! It has saponins within it, Saponins naturally produced within plants. The scientific community refers to them as phytochemicals. They behave like detergents, removing the accumulated dirt and dead skin cells from your skin’s pores. At the same time, it ensures that the natural oils of your skin remain intact despite its action of exfoliation.
Oatmeal possesses anti-inflammatory properties too, which are ideal for soothing your irritated or itchy skin. The large quantities of anti-oxidants along with the emollient properties of oatmeal, work magic on your skin, by soothing and moisturising it. Thus oatmeal suffices to undo the damage caused by the harsh UV rays of the sun.
What You Should Do
- Fill your bathtub with cool water and pour a cup of organic raw oatmeal into it
- Stir thoroughly, step into it and enjoy a good soak for at least half-an-hour or so. Step out and pat your skin dry
- Do not use a towel for vigorous rubbing. Do this once daily and you should be fine within a few days.
2. Apple Cider Vinegar
You are well aware that even mild sunburn can result in blisters after some time. If you leave them untreated, they may rupture leading to sepsis or infections. Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria are always eager to settle down in these burnt/infected parts. The acetic acid present in apple cider vinegar possesses anti-bacterial properties.
What You Should Do
- Fill your bathtub with cool water and pour a cup of apple cider vinegar into it
- If you are frightened of feeling a stinging sensation or experiencing pain, you might add a few drops of chamomile or lavender essential oil to the bath water
- Relish the joy of soaking in this water for some time.
The period of soaking depends upon your comfort level, but do not go overboard with it since the diluted apple cider vinegar ensures balancing of pH, your skin will begin to heal.
3. Baking Soda
Baking soda is alkaline in nature with a pH of nine. It will help your skin to restore its pH level that become disturbed due to sunburn. The balance will help your skin to get back its smooth and glowing look. It is a great exfoliator, removing dead skin cells and dirt from the pores on your skin.
What You Should Do