It’s a lovely day in Melbourne (Australia) today. The sun is shining, it’s about 24 degrees © with a gentle breeze so my little courtyard doesn’t get too overheated.
I decided to lay out in the sun, just for a little while mind you, and fell asleep to the sounds of the breeze tossing the trees and the birds fighting over the crusts of bread I had left them. Very pleasant…
AND NOW I’M SUNBURNT ON THE BACKS OF MY LEGS AND THEY HURT LIKE CRAZY. I’m very fair skinned, so now I look like the proverbial lobster. And they’re going to hurt for days…and it’s going to be hot for the next few days and I will have to wear trousers so the sun doesn’t give me grief.
That’ll teach me.
:rolleyes:
Bathe them in vinegar to remove the sting.
(Then, stay out of the sun for a while.)
I got sunburnt badly once, along my arms, face and feet while sitting in a field waiting for a cow to give birth, kambuckta. You have my every sympathy, and then some.
(I was also eaten alive by sand flies, same day.)
Heal up soon.
Nah…I really don’t want sympathy (because I was the silly bugger and there is NO EXCUSE, on a day when the UV index is 13 for me to be out in the sunshine AT ALL).
But sand flies…eewwwwwww. Nasty little buggers they are. My mum has a severe allergy to sandfly bites, and I’ve seen the damage they can do. The itching is insanity-inducing. I’ve only ever had one occasion when I got done by the sandflies and that was enough for me…
Now, if only I can show the same resolve with staying out of the sun. 
I took the girls to the beach on Friday. Covered them in sunscreen, made them wear shirts and hats in the water. Did I remember to put the sunscreen on me? :smack:
Do you all have Bag Balm[sup]tm[/sup] there? Because I am a redhead, I burn in twenty minutes and as much as I try to use suncreen, I have had some NASTY burns. And I have to tell you…you are going to think I am nuts… but it helps. It hurts like the dickens for a few minutes after you put it on, but then…it helps. A LOT!!! And I find that I blister and peel and stuff less when I use it.
If you don’t believe me, don’t have it there, or can’t handle that first few minutes, strong tea in a cool tub is supposed to help too.
Oh, and take some aspirin. Sunburn causes inflammation and the aspirin will help with that.
Sorry, baby…I have been there. It hurts.
Now buggiebites…THAT is another story. I am allergic, bugs FLOCK to me, and their bites don’t HEAL for months. NO ideas on how to handle THAT.
Unfortunately for me, bugs LOVE me.
When I saw the title of the thread, I figured it was about Persephone. Oh well.
Hope you feel better soon, kambuckta.
Everyone else loves ya Scotticher - why should the bugs be any different?
Here’s one to try, if the vinegar doesn’t work. It AAAALWAYS works for me and mine.
Tannic acid removes the pain of a sunburn, permanently. I take an entire jar of powdered iced tea mix. Use Diet Iced Tea mix, it’s not as goopy as the sugar-filled variety.
Put about 6 cups of tepid water into a bowl, dump in the ENTIRE jar of iced tea mix. Mix it up a moment. Take the bowl WITH you into the shower. Before you wet down, take a rag ( not your fave washcloth, the iced tea with forever stain a good washcloth ), and soak the rag with the mixture.
Daub it all over the offending areas. It will run off, and just keep duabbing it on until you’ve used the bowlful of water/tea mix. Here’s the weird part.
STAY IN THERE TILL IT DRIES. That’s right, take a magazine. Let the tea soak into your skin fully, and to do that it has to dry on your skin. Then, shower down as normal. The tannic acid will remove the pain of the sunburn.
I sweah, it woiks.
Cartooniverse
Thanks for all the remedies folks, but I’m not in as much agony this morning as I expected! My legs still look like neon signs, but after braving a tepid shower, I don’t think I’m ready to be admitted to the Burns Unit at the hossie now.
However, I’m expecting dramas when they start to peel (which they invariably do). How do you stop The Itch, the one that prickles and drives you temporarily insane, the one that no cool showers, creams or scratching seems to alleviate? I’ve got a few days before that happens, so any advice there?
Oh, slightly hijacking my own thread, the BEST remedy for local burns (like the one I got the other night when I picked up the lid of the pot without realising that it had been sitting on the gas burner) is Aloe Vera. After dancing around the kitchen and virtually shoving my thumb up the tap (faucet) to find relief, I remembered I had an Aloe Vera plant happily growing in my garden. I smeared my thumb with the gel, and I have not had any pain whatsoever since. It looks gruesome (the thumb that is) but is essentially numb.
kambuckta (who is not going outdoors until the cool change comes tomorrow afternoon, nor leaving lids on the stove ever again…
)
Ah…what a SWEET thing to say!!! Thanks!