Safe Your Skin: Home Remedies for Sunburn

The lure of beautiful weather has a dark side:  if you're not properly protected from the ravages of those rays, you're going to get more than the tan you bargained for: sunburns are serious business... and they can be seriously painful, too.

Unless it's a severe burn that requires a doctor's attention, try one of these home remedies to deal with the bite of a sunburn.

Apply aloe. Take it from a native Floridian who's had her share of sunburns... and keeps aloe plants growing in her garden; it feels great and heals your skin, too. Pick up bottles of prepared aloe gel alongside the sunscreen at your supermarket or local pharmacy. Store it in your fridge, because applying cold aloe gel on damaged skin provides a double benefit, and it feels great. Bonus: you can use it on any bug bites you got while enjoying the weather. Aloe is amazingly easy to grow, too, so it's always a good idea to keep a plant or two nearby. They thrive on neglect, and won't hold it against you.

Apply cucumber paste! If you've ever wondered why spas show photos of women with cucumber slices over their eyes, it's the same reason cucumbers are an excellent sunburn treatment: chilled cucumbers are anti-inflammatory, contain antioxidants, and contain analgesic properties. To treat a sunburn, blend up cold cucumbers into a paste and apply to injured skin. It doesn't simply work to heal skin... it relieves the pain from a nasty burn.

Use cold compresses. Do not use ice directly on skin. A washcloth or towel soaked with cold water, or a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a dish towel, soothes skin and help provides relief.

Drink lots of water. Being out in the sun naturally leeches your body of its necessary hydration, and a nasty sunburn exacerbates your need for lots of water. Stay away from sugary drinks or anything with caffeine. Drink plenty of cool water and you'll rehydrate your body, cool your body down, and help it heal.

Take a cool, soothing oatmeal bath. Find prepared oatmeal bath products in the skin-care section of your nearest pharmacy. In most cases, packets are added to bathwater and provide an anti-inflammatory treatment for sunburn, bug bites, or other skin irritations. Want to make it at home and keep some on-hand? It's easy. Blend one cup of unflavored oats in a food processor until it reaches a powdery consistency and stir it into bathwater, or store oatmeal powder in a cool, dry place until you need it.

Protect damaged skin by wearing light, loose clothing that covers all of the red skin and the tender new skin under it. Avoid scratching at peeling skin, and by all means don't think that you're "helping" it along by peeling off blistered or loose skin prematurely; there's tender new skin underneath that lizard-look, and by exposing it too early or removing skin that's not ready to go, you risk exposing it to infection.

The best thing you can do to protect your skin, however, is to avoid sunburns in the first place. Make sure you wear sunscreen every day and re-apply it when necessary.