What about vinegar makes it a treatment for sunburn? I keep reading that applying it to sunburnt skin takes away the itching and burning sensation. Is it the pH of the vinegar or something else?
I haven’t heard that one before. Vinegar is basically diluted acetic acid and that seems an odd thing to put on skin that’s already burnt. All the advice I’ve ever heard suggests that sunburn should be treated in the same way as other burns to the skin i.e. with cold running water.
Could it be that vinegar evaporates quickly, thereby cooling the skin? Wouldn’t actually treat anything but it’d feel better getting the heat out, maybe?
I haven’t used vinegar for sunburn, but I have used witch hazel with success.
The witch hazel link mentions that it’s good for topical treatment of minor cuts and skin irritations because of its astringent properties:
Vinegar is certainly astringent, so I suppose it might be used then with similar effects to witch hazel.