9 Remedies That Take the Sting Out of a Sunburn

The first order of business is to bring your skin's temperature down. A cool bath or shower does exactly that and calms the burning sensation almost immediately. Keep the water cool rather than ice cold, and resist the urge to blast it on full pressure unless you want your shower to feel like a tourture chamber. When you get out, pat yourself dry with a towel instead of rubbing, since your skin is tender and in no mood to be provoked.

For a smaller patch, reach for a cold compress. Soak a clean washcloth in cool water, wring it out and lay it over the sore spot for 10 or 15 minutes. Skip the bare ice pack, because answering a burn with frostbite is just asking for a second injury. For extra calm, brew some chamomile tea, cool it completely and soak the cloth in that instead, though sit this one out if pollen and plants tend to set off your allergies.

Aloe vera is the reigning champ of sunburn relief. The gel cools on contact and helps soothe the inflammation without leaving your skin greasy. Reach for pure aloe gel rather than anything loaded with fragrance or dye. Upgrade your treatment by stashing it in the fridge first. Cold aloe on a hot burn is the kind of relief that makes you gasp in a good way.

Sunburned skin is thirsty skin, and keeping it moisturized helps ease the inevitable peeling event scheduled for a few days later. Reach for a plain, fragrance-free moisturizer that has aloe or soy and steer clear of heavy perfumes and dyes that can irritate. Like the aloe, a spin in the refrigerator turns an ordinary moisturizer into a cooling little mercy.

Oatmeal in the tub sounds like a breakfast gone wrong, but colloidal oatmeal is a soothing soak. It helps calm both the itch and the inflammation that come with a burn on the mend. Add it to cool water and settle in for a gentle soak. Don’t scrub, and pat dry when you climb out so you keep all that soothing goodness on your skin.

If soaking in oatmeal isn't your jam, try baking soda instead (turns out it's not just for absorbing fridge odors and building volcano science projects). A modest scoop dissolved in a cool bath can help take the edge off sunburned skin. About two ounces stirred into the water is plenty for a 10-minute soak. As is the theme here, keep the water cool and go easy on yourself getting out.

The sneaky thing about a sunburn is that it pulls fluid up toward the surface of your skin, which can leave the rest of you running low and headed toward dehydration. So keep a glass of water within arm's reach and sip steadily for a few days. Your skin is basically a tiny construction site right now, and hydration is what keeps the repair crew from walking off the job.

Raw skin and a tight waistband get along about as well as a popcorn ceiling and a balloon. Loose, breathable clothing gives your burn room to breathe and heal. Natural fibers like cotton and bamboo are gentlest against tender skin, so save the skinny jeans for a day when sitting down doesn’t qualify as a stunt.

If your burn has graduated from sore to itchy, a one percent hydrocortisone cream is your peacekeeper. Any drugstore has it, and it goes straight after the inflammation stoking the itch. A thin layer on the cranky spot a few times a day does the trick. Just keep your hands off, since scratching slows the healing and rolls out the welcome mat for infection.