20 home remedies for minor sunburn treatment

(where the skin is red or sore but not blistered or broken)

As the days begin to shorten So the heat begins to scorch`'em.

• "If you get a sunburn, restore your energy with salt tablets or hot tea, which will pep you up and cool you off as well as or better than a cold drink." (OFA, 1945)
• "A simple and harmless remedy for sunburn is to bathe the face in buttermilk." (OFA, 1898)
• Wash gently with soap and water and then apply the gel of an older aloe leaf, splitting the leaf open lengthwise for the quantity required.
• Apply a mild infusion of purple coneflower to destroy bacteria and soothe the skin.
• Grate potatoes and apply to sunburned skin. The starch will cool and soothe the burn.
• Apply peppermint oil to sunburned skin, as long as the skin isn't blistered. Use a peppermint infusion as a milder wash to help cool a sunburn.
• Use apple cider vinegar, plain or diluted, to ease a sunburn.
• Make an ointment or salve with the essential oil of Saint Johnswort to promote the healing of burns that haven't broken the skin. It is not only anti-inflammatory but also antiviral and antibacterial.
• Apply ice or cold water.
• Dissolve Epson salts or baking soda in water, apply to a clean cloth, and drape the cloth over the affected skin.
• Take a cool bath, adding lavender or bergamot oil to the bath water.
• Add some black or green tea to your bathwater to soothe sunburned skin. Or pat sunburned skin with wet tea bags.
• Mix 1 cup water and 20 to 25 drops lavender oil and use to bathe the sunburned area. Or, apply the solution with a spray bottle.
• Make an infusion of cooling peppermint or spearmint tea. Drink it and use it to bathe the affected area.
• Apply a poultice of dock leaves and water.
• Bathe the sunburn with an infusion of stinging nettles, chamomile, or calendula.
• Apply aloe or plain yogurt with live cultures.
• Native Americans infused ground yarrow in water and used it as a wash.
• Wash with an infusion of elder flowers or chickweed.
• Apply a compress of decocted witch hazel.