Even though it's summer on the calendar, it's raining here in Nova Scotia. I was feeling down, so I looked for something to write about that would make me feel better, and I chose sunburn. You decide if you believe me when I say, "I know how you feel."
Spending time in the sun is a great way to feel warm and get a golden tan, but it's easy to do too much and get burned. Here are some ideas for soothing sunburn relief with herbs:
Tea Tree Oil is soothing and relieves pain when it is mixed with ten times as much olive oil or coconut oil and spread over the affected area. It also stops blistering and peeling. You can also put full strength tea tree oil on a sunburn.
I find that tea tree oil is even more soothing when it is mixed with another cooling herb. My favourite is aloe. I grow aloe plants, and when I burn myself, I pick a leaf, cut it in half, squeeze out the gooey part, add a few drops of tea tree oil, and pat the area gently. Then you can cool it down more by blowing on it or sitting in front of a fan.
When tea tree oil is mixed with lavender oil, it works even better. Mix three ounces of cool, distilled water with five drops of tea tree oil and eleven drops of lavender oil. Put this mixture in a bottle with a spray nozzle, and mist it on sunburns whenever you need to cool them down. Molly at Molly's Herbals sells a mixture of tea tree oil and lavender oil that makes it easy to use this cure.
A few drops of tea tree oil can be added to lotion with vitamin E or aloe Vera. Use a few times a day to get rid of pain, redness, and swelling.
Tea tree oil should be diluted for people with sensitive skin. It can be mixed with almond oil or wheat germ oil. Apply cold water to get rid of the heat, and then rub the oil mixture gently into the affected area to help relieve the stinging and itching.
I looked on the internet and found some great after-sun skin care products that have a lot of these ingredients. If you don't want to make your own remedies, you should do the same.
