Someone told me that the best thing for a sunburn is to take a hot shower, which doesn’t make any sense to me. Is this true?
Is that before or after you apply Aloe?
No, it’s not true. A sunburn is a first-degree burn. Although it is a very minor burn, it is still a burn. Treating burns with heat guarantees increase in injury and worsening of the burn. You may find yourself developing blisters in areas of sunburn that you treat with hot water that would not blister unburned skin.
Please do not put hot water on your sunburns.
before…
works for me because I think it helps to desensitise you a bit…or it finishes the cooking process…one or the other.
IANADr., but from practical experience, I think the only thing you can do is treat the symptoms. Aloe is good, as are used tea bags (tannin). Cool showers and topical anesthetics also help.
Hot water? Only if you’re a masochist!
Very hot water depetes the skin’s local supply of histamine and therefore provides relief from itching. But I’m not sure if histamine has anything to do with burn sensation. You’d have to get the water very hot to get a really good histamine flush and that would just make the burn worse.
Don’t put hot water on burns.
**NO! ** Cool (or even as cold as a shower will come out, but not ice-water) water.
Aloe.
*"Medications such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen are useful, especially when started early.
For mild sunburn, cool compresses with equal parts of milk and water may suffice. You may also use cold compresses with Burow solution. You can buy this at a drugstore. Dissolve 1 packet in 1 pint of water. Soak gauze or a soft clean cloth in it. Gently wring out the cloth and apply to the sunburned area for 15-20 minutes. Change or refresh the cloth and solution every 2-3 hours.
Anyone raised in a beach community knows the secret of aloe-based lotions. There are many commercially available types. Ask the pharmacist at your local drugstore. Tearing apart your aloe plant in the yard and applying the cool jellylike substance inside the leaves is no longer necessary.
Cool (not ice cold) baths may help. Avoid bath salts, oils, and perfumes because these may produce sensitivity reactions. Avoid scrubbing the skin or shaving the skin. Use soft towels to gently dry yourself. Don’t rub. Use a light, fragrance-free skin moisturizer.
Avoid lotions that contain topical anesthetic medications because you can become sensitized and then allergic to that medicine.
Obviously, stay out of the sun while you are sunburned*"
"Cool (not ice cold) baths may help"
"Use cool cloths on sunburned areas.
Take frequent cool showers or baths.
Apply soothing lotions that contain aloe vera to sunburned areas. Topical steroids (such as 1% hydrocortisone cream) may also help with sunburn pain and swelling. Note: Do not use the cream on children younger than age 2 unless your doctor tells you to. Do not use in the rectal or vaginal area in children younger than age 12 unless your doctor tells you to.
A sunburn can cause a mild fever and a headache. Lie down in a cool, quiet room to relieve the headache. A headache may be caused by dehydration, so drinking fluids may help. .
"Take frequent cool showers or baths"
Cool/Cold- NOT Hot.
Very Hot Water is sometimes good for poison oak/Ivy, rashes, itchy stuff, not burns. Now, *maybe * after the burn heals, and it’s peeling and itchy, then try it- working your way up slowly.
www.webmd.com sez:
Sunburn Treatments
To ease the discomfort of sunburn:
* Apply a cold compress to the affected area(s).
* Take Aspirin or acetaminophen (Tylenol) to relieve discomfort and inflammation.
* Apply a cooling gel or ointment containing aloe vera to the affected area(s).
In cases of severe sunburn or sunstroke, see your doctor immediately.
Home treatment measures may provide some relief from a mild sunburn.
* Use cool cloths on sunburned areas.
* Take frequent cool showers or baths.
* Apply soothing lotions that contain aloe vera to sunburned areas. Topical steroids (such as 1% hydrocortisone cream) may also help with sunburn pain and swelling. Note: Do not use the cream on children younger than age 2 unless your doctor tells you to. Do not use in the rectal or vaginal area in children younger than age 12 unless your doctor tells you to.
A sunburn can cause a mild fever and a headache. Lie down in a cool, quiet room to relieve the headache. A headache may be caused by dehydration, so drinking fluids may help. For more information, see the topic Dehydration.
There is little you can do to stop skin from peeling after a sunburn—it is part of the healing process. Lotion may help relieve the itching.
Other home treatment measures, such as chamomile, may help relieve your sunburn symptoms.
Small, unbroken blisters [less than 1 in.(2.5 cm) across] usually heal on their own.
* Do not try to break the blisters. Just leave them alone.
* Do not cover the blisters unless something such as clothing is rubbing against them. If you do cover them, apply a loose bandage. Secure the bandage so the tape does not touch the blisters. Do not wrap tape completely around a hand, arm, foot, or leg because it could cut off the blood supply if the limb swells. If the tape is too tight, you may develop symptoms below the level of the tape, such as numbness, tingling, pain, or cool and pale or swollen skin.
* Avoid wearing clothes or shoes or doing activities that rub or irritate the blisters until they have healed.
More info at Sunburn Treatment & Home Remedies: How To Relieve Sunburn Pain
SIMULPOST! 
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Does this explain why during the 2 weeks of intensely hot, humid weather we experienced a couple weeks back my moqsuito bites didn’t itch…and as soon as the weather got cool again and I stopped being hot and wet 24/7, they itch again?
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You know, I thought my dad made up that particular “remedy” to torture me when I was younger but apparently not. He said that’s what they were told when he was in the Navy (Korean War. Oops, sorry - I mean “Conflict”).
Hmmm, maybe *they * made it up to torture him. Although probably not - that was the same era people were putting butter on burns…
Ignorance fought…
Just wish I hadn’t gone down in such a blaze of glory…
When I was a youngster, I got a really bad sunburn at the beginning of one summer. My dad put vinegar in a spray bottle and repeatedly (over several hours) sprayed it on my back and the back of my legs. It took away the pain, and I never peeled. At first I wasn’t going to write about this, thinking it was my memory of a childhood experience going bad, but I Googled vinegar for sunburn and got a lot of hits verifying it.
Anyone else ever hear of using vinegar?
I am slightly dubious. :dubious: I don’t think it’s likely to be harmful on mild sunburn (which hot water could well be harmful), and some dudes think it helps.
http://www.dermadoctor.com/pages/newsletter204.asp?WID={4A513AE6-413B-4630-815E-6D1E2C23B218}
"My strongest olfactory memory of childhood is smelling like a freshly tossed salad during the summertime. Back in the dark ages of the 60’s when one’s summertime goal was to soak up as much sun as possible and sunscreens were unheard of, I had more than my share of unnecessary preteen sunburns. Every night mom opened the kitchen cupboard and pulled out her bottle of plain old distilled white vinegar. Dousing us liberally, she unwittingly was using home therapy with some real science behind it.
The acetic acid in white vinegar is essentially a topical NSAID. Of course this helps reduce the inflammation, the pain and hopefully some of the UV damage occurring in the skin. Unless you have a pentient for the gourmet-flavored variety, pick up some inexpensive white vinegar to keep on hand for that unexpected burn. "
And, part of it was likely that the vinegar is 90% cool water.
Seems like a home remedy that’s a definate “maybe”. But aloe, cool water and the other things listed in th ecites above above are tested and true. Stick with 'em.
I’ve heard a lot of people bandying the supposed ‘hot shower; as hot as you can stand’ remedy. Interestingly at least a few of these folks were ex-Navy too. I was always extremely skeptical of the supposed remedy and never the least bit tempted to try it. Soaking in a cold bath to subdue the inflammation and general feeling of heat, followed by buttering myself with repeated thick layers of skin moisturiser works for me; every time the moisturiser soaks in, apply more (keep the bottle in the fridge too).
Never heard the hot water or vinegar theories, but my father swore you could alleviate a sunburn by putting bleach on it. I have a violent reaction to the smell of bleach, so I never tried it, but it sounds like BS anyway.
The last time I had a bad sunburn, any attempt to take even a warm shower was extremely painful. So I just took cool, near cold showers. It felt much better.
I’ve also found that Noxema feels good on sunburned skin.
I’ve heard that salt can sooth open wounds, too… ::rolleyes::
Heat heals and I’ve gotten through the worst part of a sunburn by getting the water as hot as I can stand it and stepping into it as long as I can. Followed by a super lot of lotion.
So cold is not that good either and could cause a blister. I’m 44 and also rarely peel with this method.
You’re not supposed to let bleach come in contact with healthy, intact skin, much less sunburned skin. Don’t do this.