Treating Burns and Sunburns

Burns

The first thing you want to do is cool the area by soaking it in cold water for 5-10 minutes. A very valuable and easy to find herbal remedy is honey as it promotes healing as well as being an antiseptic. You want to reduce touching the affected area to only necessary as it can irritate and prolong the healing process. Once the healing process has begun you want to use a vitamin E or lavender oil to aid the restoration of skin. Lavender oil has anti-inflammatory, analgesic abilities as well as tissue restoration, you can place the lavender oil directly on the burn or on a sterile gauze. To avoid blistering you want to dilute 1-2 drops of tea tree oil in a teaspoon of water and applying to the cooled burn. To avoid frying the skin avoid butter or other fats touching the area. Many people already know that aloe vera is great for treating burns, if you apply the plant's gel on the burn as soon as possible you can have scar-free healing. Chamomile or pot marigold infusions can be used to ease soreness and inflammation.

Sunburns

With the ozone layer thinning because of all the air pollution, sunburn is a common issue that not only increases the aging process but can cause cancer. For a mild case of sunburn start by cooling the areas with cool water. Apply a chilled infusion of chamomile, elderflower, or lavender as a compress. Cooled distilled witch hazel also makes a good compress. Strawberries and yogurt both take the heat out of sunburns. Keep the poultice in place with a gauze. Like with burns lavender oil can be used here. If the sunburned area is large you can use chamomile or lavender oils can be adding to a bath 5-8

drops in a bath; keep the water tepid. Hot water will make it worse.