Saturday, May 30, 2009

Sunburn Balm

j0440405 Late spring is a bad time of year for getting sun burns.  People are spending more time outside, but haven’t yet gotten into the summertime routine of applying sunscreen every day.  Really, you should be applying it rear-round, not just in summer!

This is a little something I whipped up last year as a foot rub.  The menthol content of the Peppermint creates a  cooling, tingling effect on the skin. 

Last summer while on vacation, I got a bad sunburn on the entire right side of my face from riding with the window open during a long car ride. Since my foot rub had such soothing properties, I decided to give it a try on my face. 

By the next morning, all the redness was gone!  My sunburn never progressed to the yucky, peeling skin stage.

Of course, I can’t guarantee that everyone will have those results, but at least this balm will provide a bit of pain relief.

 

What you need:

j0440540100 mLs of aloe vera gel – You can find this at most drugstores

25 drops Peppermint EO

20 drops Lavender EO

5 drops Ylang Ylang EO (optional)

A clean, empty jar

What you do:

1.  Place your aloe gel in a clean container.

2.  Add the essential oils, mixing carefully after each one.

3.  Apply to sunburned skin BEFORE it starts to peel. Once the skin begins peeling, the Peppermint oil may be too irritating, but you’ll have to do a test patch to judge for yourself, as well all have different skin sensitivity levels.

This balm is also nice to cool down the skin even when you don’t have a sunburn.  Aloe sometimes leaves a sticky film behind, so I often follow up with some cocoa butter.

1 comments:

  1. What a great idea - and how timely now that the sun is out a lot! Thanks for sharing! I got my shoulders burnt after being in the sun all day and applying SPF 50! Go figure...
    ReplyDelete

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