Natural sunburn remedies

Does an afternoon lazing in the sun mean you’ve spent an evening typing ‘best treatment for sunburn’ anxiously into Google? Unfortunately, even the most loyal SPF users aren’t totally immune to the sun’s harmful rays.

In fact, according to the British Skin Foundation, 85% of Britons confess to suffering from sunburn three or more times in their lifetime.¹ Helping to prevent sunburn is obviously a priority, but if you get caught out this summer, here are some sunburn saviours that can soothe your red patches.

What happens to your skin in the sun?

You already know that too much exposure to the sun is harmful and can cause damage to your skin. But what actually happens to your skin when exposed to the sun?

Well, it's not the sun's heat that causes sunburn; the damage is caused by too much exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The UV rays from sunlight come in two types: UVA and UVB, and it is UVB rays that cause sunburn.²

The first sign of sunburn is usually your skin changing colour – anything from slightly pink to raging red and your skin can also feel warm to the touch and sore. Over subsequent days, the pain and redness may reduce but can be replaced by itching, dryness, and peeling skin.⁴

What to do if you get sunburnt

Preventing a sunburn by making sure you’re using a good SPF30 with at least a 4-star UVA rating, staying hydrated and staying in the shade as much as possible is so important.³ But, if you have found yourself a bit pink after a day in the sun, it’s also important to know what to do and how to stop it from worsening.

Here are four things to do if you experience sunburn:^4,5

1. Find some shade

As soon as you realise you’re getting sunburnt, you should get out of the sun. Go inside, find shade, and drink plenty of water to prevent dehydration.³

2. Cool and calm the skin

To soothe the burning sensation, take a cool shower or bath to calm your skin. Then, over the next few hours, continue this cooling process using a damp towel as a compress or a bag of ice wrapped in a towel - this helps to drain the heat from the skin. As well as soothing the sunburn, this can help reduce further redness.

4. Prevent further sun damage

Cover your sunburn from direct sunlight and avoid exposure to the sun until the skin is healed, and wear a high-factor SPF of at least factor 30 and with a UVA rating of at least 4-stars, to help limit further damage to the skin.³

6 remedies that can help sunburn

If your sunburn is severe, you should always seek advice from a doctor. But if you’re looking for something to take the edge off a minor sunburn, here are six natural remedies you could try.

1. Aloe vera

Before instinctively reaching for a bottle of after sun, you might want to try a natural remedy such as aloe vera, which can be great at soothing your skin.⁷ However, you must see a doctor immediately if you have severe sunburn.

Alternatively, to save time and hassle, you could buy a tube of aloe vera gel and apply it to your sunburn every few hours. It should start soothing your skin immediately and help prevent it from peeling.⁹

2. Frozen peas

Head to your freezer, find a bag of frozen peas (or any other frozen vegetable) and apply it to your sunburn. Make sure you’ve wrapped the bag in a tea towel first, as you don’t want to give yourself frostbite.

3. A cool shower

A cool shower is one of the quickest ways of providing instant relief to your skin. You’ll also gently wash off any salt or chlorine if you’ve been swimming.¹⁰

6. Raw honey

Another way to help soothe your skin is to dab on some raw honey or spread it on a bandage and wrap it around the affected area. Honey is a cleansing ingredient that will help keep the area of your skin clean and fresh.¹³ 

Things to avoid when looking for sunburn remedies:

How to treat sunburn is not only about what you should do but also about what not to do.

Although cooling the skin is essential, resist the temptation to apply ice directly to the skin, as this can damage the blood vessels in the area.^4,14 Instead, you should opt for a gentle moisturiser. Choose one with no fragrance and is water-based, like aloe vera gel. Perfumes and heavy creams can make your sunburn worse by causing irritation.¹⁴

In addition, avoid products containing petroleum, and oil-based balms, as they could trap heat in the skin, potentially making your sunburn even worse.^15,16

Soothing sunburn on your face:

The same advice applies to your face as to any other areas of sunburnt skin, but you may want to think about simplifying your skincare regime while your skin is recovering.

Bland is better when it comes to helping soothe sunburn on your face. Sunburnt skin is highly sensitive and more susceptible to irritation, so avoiding exfoliants and fragranced skincare is advised. Substitute products such as retinol and alpha hydroxy acids with gentle moisturisers until your skin heals.¹⁷

You might also want to avoid wearing makeup whilst your sunburn heals, as this can delay the healing process of your burn. Instead, try to let your skin breathe and heal.^18,19

Most importantly, keep your sunburnt face out of the sun. As one of the most exposed parts of your body, this can feel like a challenge. Applying high-factor SPF and wearing a hat outdoors is essential for face sunburn treatment.¹⁰