Summer is all fun until you spend too much time outside. That’s when your body is exposed to all sorts of risks, especially your skin. The most common summer skin problems are burns, bites, stings or itchiness. However, I found a few natural solutions for all of these problems I’ve just mentioned.
Here are a few home remedies you can use to make your summer less painful and more enjoyable.
Sunburn
From all of the common summer skin problems, sunburns are the most frequent ones and for a good reason. Here are three ways to cool off sunburns:
- Lavender essential oil
After a bath or shower, apply the essential oil over the affected area of your skin, where it burns. The lavender oil acts as an anti-inflammatory herb, nourishing the skin. Your skin will also smell great. You’ll thank me later.
- Aloe Vera
Another natural remedy is the aloe vera plant and its leaf. Apply the sap on the sunburn for a soothing effect. You can also use natural aloe vera cream or lotion; however, make sure it doesn’t contain any fixatives. Do not apply aloe gel on sunburns as it might dry the affected zone.
- Plain yoghurt
Yoghurt is excellent nourishment for the burned area. Apply it for half an hour, and then rinse it with water. Make sure the water isn’t too hot, though. This method is the most accessible to everyone, I think.
Poison Ivy
Exposure to poison ivy irritates the skin badly, as you know. Follow one of the solutions below to take care of this issue.
- Chamomile and lavender essential oils
If your skin is itchy due to the poison ivy, soak a cloth in water and add a few drops of each essential oil. Apply the cloth to the sunburn for a soothing effect. Both oils have anti-inflammatory substances.
- Aveeno and chamomile tea
Use this solution if one or more significant areas of your body are affected. You need to prepare a bath and add one or two packets of Aveeno sprinkles. Then, boil two bags of chamomile tea in two cups of water for about 20 minutes. When ready, add the resulted tea to the bath and soak in. The oatmeal properties help with skin irritation and inflammation.
- Nettle
Another natural way to get over the skin irritation is by eating two or three nettle capsules. However, the leaves need to be freeze-dried and eaten shortly after the ivy exposure. The treatment must continue for one to two days, up to four capsules per day.
Bee stings
Here are a few easy tricks to soothe a bee sting.
- Meat tenderizer
This solution is very easy to prepare. First, you need to make a paste from ice water and a meat tenderizer. Apply the paste on the sting for about ten minutes.
- Papaya
Another easy thing to do is to lay a slice of papaya over the sting. However, if you don’t have any at home, you can combine baking soda and water to paste. Apply it on the venom area for a soothing effect.
- Lavender oil or tea tree oil
Both oils work perfectly fine against the pain and itching. Apply one of them on the sting to reduce the inflammation.
Other Insect bites
Insect bites are annoying and can be pretty uncomfortable. However, you don’t need to suffer. Treat the problem with our effortless solutions.
- Chamomile tea
Boil chamomile tea and wash the bitten area. The tea reduces inflammation.
- Aloe Vera gel
Use Aloe Vera gel on the affected zone. The gel has anti-inflammatory properties. However, please note it won’t actually stop the immune response.
- Echinacea
For this method, you can use two drops of extract echinacea angustifolia. However, the purpurea alcohol extract works just as fine. Apply one or the other on the sting. Both extracts have pain relievers properties, which help reduces inflammation.