Soothe a Sunburn with an Oatmeal Bath

Last week my best friend and I spent an afternoon in the pool. I slathered on sunscreen, reapplied it throughout the day, kept in the shade as much as possible, and yet my usually pasty complexion was still a glowing red by the end of the day.

Sunburns are difficult to avoid, especially for those of us fair skinned swimmers. They are also painful, and leave your skin scorching hot to the touch. Not fun at all, and definitely something to be avoided. Sometimes, though, despite your best efforts, sunburns happen.

So, if you do wind up looking more like a lobster than a bathing beauty by the end of a sunny day, try these steps.

1. Run a tepid bath.
After a sunburn starts to set in the last thing you want to do is take a steaming hot bath. Ouch! Keep in mind, though, that as hot as your sunburn feels to the touch, a cold bath will not feel too good either. Right now your skin is very sensitive and doesn’t want to be bombarded with temperature extremes.

Avoid temperature extremes and try to run a bath that is tepid. A bath at about 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit will help to heal your skin, will not aggravate your sunburn, and will keep you from sitting in an uncomfortably cold bath.

The water temperature also plays an important part in cooling the sunburned areas of your skin. Even though the water may feel moderately warm to the unburned parts of you, the sunburned areas of your skin have been heated to a much higher temperature, and they are cooled by tepid water.

2. Grab a sock and some oatmeal.
Get one of your clean socks, preferably a simple white cotton sock. Next, fill the sock with about 5-10 tablespoons of oatmeal, depending on the size of your bathtub. I have a slightly larger tub, so I used about 7 tablespoons of oatmeal. The oatmeal that I used was basic, quick cook, rolled oats.

Last but not least, makes sure to tightly tie off the sock so that you do not have oatmeal floating around in the tub. I forgot this step once, and the oatmeal sticking to my skin was not a pleasant bathing experience. Yuck. This step is also important because you will be squeezing the sock in order to get the most out of your oatmeal.

3. Put the sock in the tub.
Toss the sock in the water and let it soak for a few minutes as you get into the bathtub. Once you are in the bathtub, squeeze the water out of the sock so that the polysaccharides, protein, and other soothing qualities of the oatmeal can be released in the bath. Repeat the process a few dozen times, releasing more beneficial oatmeal water into the tub with each squeeze.

The water will start to get cloudy from the oatmeal – that is a good thing as it means that your bath has been transformed into a healing oasis of nutrients that will soothe your skin and speed its healing process.

At this point, you will also begin to notice a slick coating on your skin. This oatmeal polysaccharides coating is great for your skin, and leaves it feeling soft and nourished even after the bath.

There you have it, 3 easy steps to healing your skin and soothing your sunburn naturally. Good luck, and try not to get too much sun!