06
2010The Naturalist’s Folk Remedies For Sunburn
Protecting Your Fair Skin
When I was young, I told everyone I wanted to be a “witch doctor”. To me that meant growing a garden of herbs and using alchemy to mix home remedies for most ailments. I imagined myself with a little shop with lavender decorating the front walkway. When I grew up, I realized that would make me an herbalist, and I even considered going to school for it. But really, it’s more of a skill you learn by researching yourself and by trial and error.
Where I’m going with this, though, is that I have a sunburn. And this post is here to offer some quick folk remedies for helping to heal it from your photographer-wannabe-herb-doctor-blogger. Yesterday I wore one of one of my favorite tops, SPF 50 Sunscreen, and still managed to burn. Normally I don’t go without SPF 80. But whether you wore sunscreen or you didn’t, if you’ve found yourself with a sunburn, you can take quick action at home to help your skin heal.
Healing With Tea & Oatmeal
WHAT. Yes, that’s right. You can help your sunburn (a great deal) by using tea. Any tea will work usually, but black teas more so than others. Your looking for the teas that have the highest tannin content. Typically this means using green tea, but I used black, because I’m too stubborn to “waste good tea” on a burn. Not that I’m suggesting black tea isn’t as good as green tea, because I totally am, and I’m just throwing this disclaimer in here so tea connoisseur don’t flog me. You should probably use green tea though if you want the most healing out of your home remedy. The key here is to act fast. So right when you get home after noticing your burn, it’s time to take action.
Brew a fair amount, which is about three bags worth, though I doubt anyone would be “wasting” loose leaf on this sometimes it’s all you have in your cupboard! After brewing, throw in some ice cubes and let it sit until it becomes warm and then gently apply the tea using a cloth you don’t mind getting stained. If you are using bags, apply the bag directly to your skin for a stronger effect.
While you’re waiting for your tea to cool, run a warm oatmeal bath using an old nylon filled with either organic rolled oats or colloidal oatmeal (the oatmeal in packets) resting in the tub while it fills. Let it sit for the few minutes it takes for you to apply the tea to your burn and then hop in tub and sit for about a half an hour.
Over the next few days be sure to drink lots of water to keep your skin hydrated. I noticed a major difference, and I hope you do too. No peeling!
Drew
My sunburn remedy was a wide area excision of the skin around my primary melanoma, followed by a radical lymphectomy of the left axilla (my armpit). Seven years later I had a lumpectomy in below the lymphectomy site after a recurrence of the melanoma. This year, I had the traditional folk remedy of intense beams of radiation focussed on the four lesions on my brain caused by metastases of melanoma. Add to that eight years of anguish for my wife and other non-cancer complications of this journey. Probably would have been better not to have been allowed by my sun-worshipping parents to have been sunburned as a child.
sunburned feet
Hi Sara,
The text along with the photos made this post really good. I am fair skinned and have been burned in the past several times. I just got the tops of my feet sunburned, I forgot to protect them.
I too had heard of the oatmeal bath and to hydrate myself, but I hadn’t heart of the lavender. I can’t wait to give your remedy a try.
Thanks for the lavendin versus real lavender tip as well.
Osbert
A word of caution about buying lavender products, though: many products currently being sold as containing lavender are actually lavandin–a hybrid of lavender that smells stronger and last longer, but can actually WORSEN burns. Companies get away without actually labeling these products differently because it is a hybrid; though sometimes labels will say they use a ‘variety’ of lavender, this is not always the case. If you’re not growing your own lavender, always make sure you check for the proper scientific name (lavandula angustifolia) on the ingredients label before using store-bought lavender products on burns.
+1
Diane
Oh my gosh! Ouch! I’m thankful for being half Filipino in the summer – I haven’t had a big sunburn since I was little! But if I ever have one again, I’ll try this!
I wish I had a green thumb, and I’d try to grow an aloe plant! When we were in Florida a nice old woman let us use aloe leaves from her plant. I rubbed the aloe all over my feet and on the tip of my nose – amazing!
James
Look really painful.
Check the expiry date on the sunscreen it really does become useless with time.
Reapplying is really important as well. Working in Renaissance faires and being in the sun for days, I found that sun screen is only good for 1/2 a day in the sun before you need to reapply.
Amanda
Yikes that looks painful but your course of treatment seems like a spa treatment!!
Krista
That is with an SPF 50? Yikes! That really looks nasty. I have fair skin too, but I usually do okay ith an SPF 30.
Thanks for the tips on remedies. I usually use aloe vera, but this is definately worth a try.
Sara
I think it’s because I applied the sunscreen at six am and was out until six pm without applying a second time. Sweat and moving around probably required another application, so it was my bad for not thinking to add more.
Cizzle
Ouch! Glad it’s feeling better today!
Sara
<3<3<3
Maggie
I’ve had a lot of luck with Aveeno products as someone who both breaks out and burns quite easily. They have an oil-free, waterproof SPF 70 that kept my Scotch-Irish-English-Welsh skin from so much as tanning in southern California last summer, as well as most summers in North Carolina. I’ve been using their oatmeal bath treatment since I was a baby, a 100% oatmeal powder that dissolves in bathwater.
Also! As for the lavender you spoke of in your daydreaming, lavender is an excellent remedy for both burns (as I tend to do while cooking and baking) and sunburn. If you grow it fresh or have it dried, you could boil it in with the tea as you suggested; or if you have lavender essential oil you can dab it directly on the burn.
A word of caution about buying lavender products, though: many products currently being sold as containing lavender are actually lavandin–a hybrid of lavender that smells stronger and last longer, but can actually WORSEN burns. Companies get away without actually labeling these products differently because it is a hybrid; though sometimes labels will say they use a ‘variety’ of lavender, this is not always the case. If you’re not growing your own lavender, always make sure you check for the proper scientific name (lavandula angustifolia) on the ingredients label before using store-bought lavender products on burns.
Maggie
Oh, your comments on here seem to have dropped the last letter of everyone’s names down to the next line.. o.O (i.e. the ‘y’ on Stacey and the ‘a’ on Sara.) Just thought you might like to know.
Sara
I love Aveeno! I haven’t tried their sunscreen though, so I’ll check that out next time I’m at the store. Also, the bath powder sounds excellent for at least a weekly indulgence instead of using oats in an old nylon!
And as for the lavender in daydreaming, the reason I have it outside the front of the store is because lavender is amazing for almost EVERYTHING. (Depression, insomnia, menstrual cramps, etc.) I would have included it in the home remedies but most people probably wouldn’t have it sitting at home.
And the name on the comments is doing that because it’s using Font Burner, I’m aware, I just haven’t fixed it yet. (It’s low on the priority list.) But thanks for letting me know!
Sol
OMG! wow, that sure must hurt! i know this is really bad, but i don’t wear sunscreen, and i’ve been lucky enough not to have any problems yet. hope it gets better soon
this is such a great remedy for sunburns, i hope i don’t even need it, but if i do, i’ll be coming back here for sure.
Sara
Oh gosh, even just a little sunscreen is a good idea! I can’t believe you’ve never had any issues with sunburns! It must be wonderful not to be hesitant of the sun!
cri
hah. a witch doctor. thats so cute. i love herb stuff and researching and learning. learning is awesome! and this is some awesome knowledge about burns!
Sara
Me toooo. I have a wall chart in my kitchen about some great herbs and how to use them for different ailments, but it’s quite old and doesn’t stay up anymore. I was considering making a new one, perhaps I’ll mail one to you as well!
Stacey
Ouch, that looks painful!
I knew about oatmeal baths, but the tea is new. Thanks for the tip; I’ll be sure to pass it along to my friends who burn easily.
Sara
The pain is pretty much gone today, actually, and for that I’m extremely grateful. It used to take so much more for me to burn, it’s frustrating. Tom didn’t apply any sunscreen, is half Irish with pale skin, and not even a slight burn!