Sun Safety

As I mentioned in my earlier post about the 4th of July, I got a major sunburn.

As an Esthetician in training I was seriously embarrassed over how burnt I was, especially since I've become the sunscreen Nazi of the family.

I applied sunscreen on my face (+ wore a baseball hat), my arms, legs, belly.. all over. EXCEPT my chest. I totally forgot. I wasn't even in the sun an HOUR and this happened:

That's real life & I wanted to cry.

The picture on the right is from THREE DAYS LATER. It still felt/looked awful-

..and by then I was TOTALLY feelin the pain. The restless I-want-to-die feeling of tingly needles being jabbed into your tender skin was miserable. I was literally pacing the floor of my living room. So, here I am giving you other idiots with sunburns some advice.

 

1. ALWAYS Wear your sunscreen to avoid this problem all together.

Make sure your sunscreen says "Helioplex" on the bottle which will protect against BOTH UVA & UVB Rays!

*Sunscreen is even important for cloudy days or in your car! Clouds as well as car windows magnify the suns rays!*

 

2. Use Aloe Vera

Try to avoid Aloes with scents or colors, which may irritate your sunburn.

The au naturale is the best!

 

3. Use a Cold Compress

My favorite way of doing this is getting a washcloth soaked in cold water, and wrapping up ice cubes in it. That should help take the heat out of your burn!

 

4. Take a cool bath

..just make sure you don't use any bubbles or soap- these may also irritate your burn!

 

5. Take some tylenol

This will help with the hot burning feeling

 6. Moisturize!

..again, just make sure your lotion is fragrance & dye free!

(Cetaphil is great for sunburns!)

 

I was told to put apple cider vinegar on my sunburn. Totally skeptical I googled it and everyone was RAVING about how much it helped their sunburns. I tried it and wanted to pull my own hair out. It hurt SO BAD, totally not worth it. But it may work for you..

 

If you can't shake that tingly awful burning feeling like I couldn't, this is the best solution I've ever tried.. My sister living in Hawaii has had a few burns (bad girl..) & swears by this Gold Bond Lotion..

It has Aloe and Vitamin E in it which protects and cools your skin. It felt mentholated and amazing. It saved me from going crazy, really. 

 

just wear your damn sunscreen.