You got a sunburn, what to do now?

Well, you got a sunburn. It’s something that can happen and I’m sure that almost anyone reading this article got a sunbrun at some point in their lives. If you didn’t, keep doing what you do, ie. protecting your skin from UV rays.

To protect your skin from sun rays, the most important factor is to wear sunscreen. You can also protect your body from the sun by wearing a hat and taking some pauses in the shadow of a tree or buildings.

Always rembember to apply sunscreen and reapply sunscreen in hot sunny days although if there’s clouds in the sky, specially during the summertime.

WHAT TO DO AFTER A SUNBURN ACCORDING TO HOW YOU FEEL?

First you should analyze how you feel. If you are experiencing one of this symportms, you should contact a doctor or specialist in burn treatement.

• Fatigue
• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Headache

With a severe sun burn, you might experience dehydration. Your skin must have been dehydrated by the sun. Therefore, the first thing you should do is drink water to rehydrate your body.

Be conscient and act correctly to take care of your sunburn because without proper tratement of broken skin, the risk of infection can increase and the color of the skin can change permanentely according to the American Academy of Dermatology. You should also know that sunburn risks in the long term, include cancer, hence it is really important to take a good care of them and prevent them.

WHAT TO DO

You shouldn’t follow all the tricks you find on the interent to cure your sunburn because many of this myths can harm your skin further.

Here are some home remerdies that can help sunburn:

• Take cool baths or showers : hot water can irritate your skin but standing under cool water or placing a cooler towel over the area, will help you reduce and soothe the inflammation. Don’t rub the sunburn area to dry it, instead gently pat it.
• Use a non-died, non-perfumed moisturiser over the burn area. Aloe vera has skin-soothing effects as well as anti-inflamatory properties which can help with the irritation of a sunburn. Apply a moisturiser on your skin over a little moisture. It will help trap the water on your skin to reduce dryness. Avoid products with petroleum (like Vaseline because they can trap heat in your skin since they are thick and oily.

Here are some sunburn relief products that our team loved.

• Take a pain reliever : taking an anti-inflamatory drug like aspirin or ibuprofen, can help you with pain relief by responding to the inflammation caused by the sunburn. It can also help with the other symptoms you might have, such as headache or fatigue.
• Last but not least, avoid the sun : if you can’t avoid the sun because you have to be in it, apply a sunscreen that contains both UVB and UVA and always remember to reapply several times!

WHAT NOT TO DO

There is some things you shouldn’t do if you want to heal your sunburn as fast as possible and most importantly, if you don’t want to make it worse.

• Don’t put ice on it : it can lead to frostbite.
• Don’t use food products over the sunburn area such as honey, eggs, avocado or others. It won’t do any favours.
• Avoid at all costs unusual chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide or alcohol, it will irritate your skin even more.
• And again, don’t re-expose the burn to the sun while it’s healing.

WHAT TO DO TO PREVENT A SUNBURN?

When the summer comes, people go from spending lots of time indoors to spend lots of time outdoors. There are some things you should know about sun protection before spending several hours under the sun.

• First of all, use a mineral-based sunscreen, if possible from 30 SPF to 50 SPF as this range blocks both UVA and UVB rays. Also pay attention to its expiration date, the sunscreen doesn’t work anymore once it is expired.
• Re-apply sunscreen every two hours. Many people forget about this. If necessary, keep a reminder on your phone.
• Don’t neglect any area of the body when applying sunscreen, including the ears, neck and nose. This are the areas that often get mot sunburn.
• Protect your body with hats and and sleeves as well as umbrellas. Always look for a place you can rest under a shadow.