Your sunburn remedies? Homemade or store bought

Well it's a little past the middle of summer and I'm sure a fair amount of ATS members enjoy the beach and sitting by the pool on these hot days. And of course that leads to sunburn if you're not careful.

Well, I went to the Jersey Shore on Thursday and I wasn't 100 percent careful. And now I have pretty bad sunburn on my legs and tops of my feet.

I've been using plenty of burn relief spray and gel with aloe and lidocaine (which I just googled for spelling and see a bunch of pages saying it isn't good for sunburn, now I'm confused) and even vinegar.

So I thought it be helpful for all of us to post up your own sunburn remedies. Whether they're homemade secrets or store bought.

Look into lavender oil. Cool baths with it might be helpful too.

aloe vera. take a leaf of an aloe vera plant, split it, and rub the gel from the inside on ANY burn and it'll soothe it instantly. i've used it for years. it works.

This is an old wives remedy. I have used it many times on me and my family before sunscreen days. This is not medical advice, just an old old family remedy.

Get a gallon of white vinegar. Soak hand towels or washcloths in the vinegar.

Lay a plastic sheet under your burned area. Put a towel over the plastic sheet. Then put your burned parts over the towel on the plastic sheet.

Take a soaked towel/washcloth and lay it/them all over your burned parts.

When the towel/washcloths get warm and start to dry out from the burn, rinse them in more vinegar and lay them on the burned parts again.

Keep doing this for at least two hours.

Oatmeal and honey are soothing to the skin - do a search on how to use it in a bath.

I run a cool bath and add three black tea bags and soak.

Also, vinegar works REALLY well.

Some good stuff being posted. Going to be helpful for myself and hopefully others.

Just keep the area well oiled- it's the drying and cracking that hurts the most. You can bear the rest as long as you don't have the drying and cracking of the dying skin.

The vinegar works, i think, because it begins to remove that dead skin that will eventually dry out and crack. It will also moisturize your skin, to a degree. You should use an oil afterward though. I use olive oil.

A hat.

Seriously. I have a lot of hats because everywhere I go that is sunny, I forget. So the first thing I need to do is buy a hat.

I went to Disneyland the first time when I was 40. I had to buy a hat.
I went to Las Vegas and forgot to take one with me. I had to buy a hat. (Blue Man Group)
I went to the San Diego Zoo. Had to buy a hat.
I went to the Sinai Desert in Egypt. Lost my San Diego Zoo hat. Had to buy another.
Someone from Egypt, or a tourist, now has my hat.
I went to Greece. Lost my Egypt hat. Had to buy a Greek one.
Everywhere I go I buy a hat, but I forget to bring them with me.
So I have a lot of hats.

If you are going to use oils, don't use mineral based oils. You will want something like coconut or lavender oil.

Aloe Vera gell, is awesome, works everytime. You can get it at any pharmacy.

reply to post by SusyQ30


That's what I ended up using. That was a long week after the beach. Still was peeling up until a few days ago. Going back next week.