Sun Burnt!!!!!!

[mattl]

Hey all,

Today decided to work outside and clean up the whole garden for an inspection, was only planning on spending 20-30minutes outside, so didn't worry with sun block (dumb mistake!).. however i ended up spending 2-3 hours outside getting carried away!!

Anyway..i got terrible sun burn, just wondering if guys recommend anything? I know alovera (Spelling?) works well, however i don't have access to any of that!! So do you guys know any other good methods besides sun cream? Already put heaps of it on..

Cheers!

[jaydee]

You can buy it as a gel from the Chemist, but I think it's best to put it on as soon as possible.
Good luck sleeping, been there done that.

[b2tf]

banana boat make an aloe spray, burns like hell when it goes on but after that it will be your best friend, stops peeling too. comes in a green bottle.

[Bucknaked]

Originally Posted by mattl

Hey all,

Today decided to work outside and clean up the whole garden for an inspection, was only planning on spending 20-30minutes outside, so didn't worry with sun block (dumb mistake!).. however i ended up spending 2-3 hours outside getting carried away!!

Anyway..i got terrible sun burn, just wondering if guys recommend anything? I know alovera (Spelling?) works well, however i don't have access to any of that!! So do you guys know any other good methods besides sun cream? Already put heaps of it on..

Cheers!

You can pick up Aloe from most nursery's. It's a pity your not local. I've got about 10 plants here.

[mattl]

Thanks so much everyone..going for a quick drive down to the local chemist get as much as possible! Argh..haha!!

Buck, are the plants hard to grow? I'm a bit of a garden guru..love my plants and gardening in general and wouldn't mind growing some, however, i work full time so that gets in the way, so are they difficult plants to grow?

Cheers everyone for the advice!

[Nostalgia]

PICS dammit, PICS. Nah seriously mate have a warm shower and slap on plenty of moisturiser. Cold shower is the worst thing for sunburn. Aloe Vera straight from the plant is great too.

[jaydee]

Originally Posted by mattl

Thanks so much everyone..going for a quick drive down to the local chemist get as much as possible! Argh..haha!!

Buck, are the plants hard to grow? I'm a bit of a garden guru..love my plants and gardening in general and wouldn't mind growing some, however, i work full time so that gets in the way, so are they difficult plants to grow?

Cheers everyone for the advice!

Piece of cake to grow, they look after them selves, bit like a cactus.
They like full sun, don't need much water.
I found that it was good to cut off a leaf and put it in the fridge before applying.

[paule11]

Originally Posted by NostalgEA

PICS dammit, PICS. Nah seriously mate have a warm shower and slap on plenty of moisturiser. Cold shower is the worst thing for sunburn. Aloe Vera straight from the plant is great too.

Thats right always have a hot shower after being sunburnt cold shower will make it worse seems to lock the burn in longer

[bob^]

I doubted you blokes about the hot shower thing. I did some googling and turns out you are right.

"Cold water closes the pores of the skin, which in turn traps in the heat and can make the skin appear redder. While a cool shower feels best, it may make your sunburn look worse and trap the heat. A warm shower will not close the pores and the heat can escape. Hot showers should be avoided with sunburn."

[prydey]

i believe that warm/hot shower thing is a myth. if you burn your finger the first thing you do is stick it under the cold water. why would sunburn be any diffferent.

i'm in adelaide and for some reason the sun rarely burns me. whenever i go away on holidays to gold coast or sunny coast it seems to be a lot different and sun cream is a must. if i get burnt its usually a cold shower and plenty of moisturiser. you can get stuff that has like an aneasthetic in it which is really good if you need to get to sleep. if you keep up the moisture it shouldn't peel.

[Bucknaked]

Originally Posted by mattl

Buck, are the plants hard to grow? I'm a bit of a garden guru..love my plants and gardening in general and wouldn't mind growing some, however, i work full time so that gets in the way, so are they difficult plants to grow?

They are an easy plant to grow. I have a plant which I got when it 2 1/2 years old, bought down from QLD in 1995. This makes the plant about 16 years old now.

A couple of things to be weary of. Do not over water these plants. I think about 75% of the plant is water, and they will drink until the soil is dry. If they drink to much they swell and basically become water logged. They then die. I water once the soil is dry and has been dry for many weeks.

Being in SA, you don't have to worry about frosts like we do in Canberra. In frosty conditions they can survive providing the leaves don't form ice. The plant will freeze because of there water content.

You can grow them in pots, but SA climate should allow for you to grow them in the ground. A nice dry spot, so you can manage the water yourself.

I've never fed my plants. Only fresh potting mix every year and ensuring I don't over water.

Apart from that very easy to grow. Leave them in a pot, when they become root bound, get a bigger pot, or at least trim back the roots. They will survive if you don't trim back to far.

Every year they will produce pups once the plant matures. Usually at 2, they mature when a large flower appears from the centre of the plant. Pups grow of the root system, usually leave them on the plant until they grown a fair size. ABout 3 or 4 months after you spot them. Wait till that have good colour. Tease them away gentle, and plant into a new pot.

Like I said, pity your not in Canberra. I would be happy to give you as many plants as you want.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Dwayne

Heres some pics of my plants. I don't know the variety

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v6...kienaked/Aloe/

[tempest]

sun burn is the worst ever....

[EFFII]

Originally Posted by b2tf

banana boat make an aloe spray, burns like hell when it goes on but after that it will be your best friend, stops peeling too. comes in a green bottle.

when i put mine on it didnt burn at all. the pain wen away with in 10 mins..amazing stuff that is!

[TZENU]

believe it or not but Vinegar drenched in a tea-towel really cools the burn... i didnt believe it until i tried it!!!!

[mattl]

Just got back from the chemist bought a Bottle of the Banana Boat Aloe Spray and a bottle of Nivea Sun Moisturising Lotion! The lady at the chemist said the Aloe Spray is only really effective straight after the sun burn, not hours later, so she told me to put some of this Nivea Lotion on now and re-apply every 2-3 hours!!

Cheers for all the advice - I'm going to go to my local nursery and pick me up some of these aloe vera plants..sound like real beauty's, especially with all the water restrictions going on these days!

[rodderz]

Am I alone in saying that the sun feels more "stingy" this year?

I work outside all day everyday, some days last year we really struggled out in direct sun, I don't remember it being that bad before. Humid days wear you out more but the sun isnt as bad

Should see my sock line, when I walk bare feet you'd reckon I'm wearing white socks!

As for the aloe, it's good stuff, the stuff I used though I ripped off a plant in Rocky and it absolutely bloody stunk, even after multiple showers! There used to be a cream called "Nice n' Icy", you kept it in the fridge and went on like an icepack

[Booka]

Hey mate, my sister said the best thing for sunburn is, Palmers coco butter? or the missus moisturiser, and have a warm/hot shower. hope this helps

btw good luck with the whole sleep thing

Cheers Tristo

[Mark351]

My missus said a hot shower then vinegar, so you guys are spot on. I'd go aloe after that to help the healing.

[fmc351]

Originally Posted by prydey

i believe that warm/hot shower thing is a myth. if you burn your finger the first thing you do is stick it under the cold water. why would sunburn be any diffferent.

i'm in adelaide and for some reason the sun rarely burns me. whenever i go away on holidays to gold coast or sunny coast it seems to be a lot different and sun cream is a must. if i get burnt its usually a cold shower and plenty of moisturiser. you can get stuff that has like an aneasthetic in it which is really good if you need to get to sleep. if you keep up the moisture it shouldn't peel.

Deeper burn maybe? With a real burn youre cooling deeper than the skin layers, and the effect of a real burn is more severe. Sunburn is only skin deep.

Im guessing.

Originally Posted by TZENU

believe it or not but Vinegar drenched in a tea-towel really cools the burn... i didnt believe it until i tried it!!!!

How much tea towel should I use to drench the vinegar? :

[theunfairadvant]

Originally Posted by mattl

Just got back from the chemist bought a Bottle of the Banana Boat Aloe Spray and a bottle of Nivea Sun Moisturising Lotion! The lady at the chemist said the Aloe Spray is only really effective straight after the sun burn, not hours later, so she told me to put some of this Nivea Lotion on now and re-apply every 2-3 hours!!

Cheers for all the advice - I'm going to go to my local nursery and pick me up some of these aloe vera plants..sound like real beauty's, especially with all the water restrictions going on these days!

Go to Priceline and get the Neutrogena Body Moisturiser 300ml $8 bucks
as it is 100 times better than Nivea Lotion & it works as well.

[theunfairadvant]

Originally Posted by rodderz

Am I alone in saying that the sun feels more "stingy" this year?

I work outside all day everyday, some days last year we really struggled out in direct sun, I don't remember it being that bad before. Humid days wear you out more but the sun isnt as bad

Should see my sock line, when I walk bare feet you'd reckon I'm wearing white socks!

As for the aloe, it's good stuff, the stuff I used though I ripped off a plant in Rocky and it absolutely bloody stunk, even after multiple showers! There used to be a cream called "Nice n' Icy", you kept it in the fridge and went on like an icepack

I have read somewhere that now the sun
will give you sunburn in 12 mins flat.

[Jessej]

Hi,

The sun does seem harsher this year, I have a bad taxi arm, I bought some sunscreen to put on while I drive but keep getting too lazy to put it on! I got to stop being lazy, bad habit

[BlackLS]

I had pretty bad sunburn in November on my shoulders and arms, had a hot shower then kept the Banana Boat Aloe spray next to me, applied it every hour that day and night, then every 2 hours the next day and night. The icy applicaiton from the spray was a godsend.

A face towel soaked with water got me to sleep on the first night.

[mattl]

God knows how I'm going to sleep tonight..this is utterly dreadful, how could i be so silly! *sighs*

Cheers for all the tips and advice fellas, and really 12 mins flat? damn..thats almost as harsh as NZ sun!! Over there, 8 mins in the sun and your terribly burnt on a sunny day, its deadly!!

[The Monty]

Id stay well clear of a moisturiser if you are badly sun burnt. I know it seems logical, but trust me, when you are that badly sunburnt you have to go to hospital and get put in a bodysock, with special burn creams after having moisturiser scraped off, you know its not good. Aloe vera is the bomb, works great.
When I burn I get blisters, bad. Moisturiser makes the blisters swell, and becomes extreemly painful.
Warm shower, some Aloe Vera, an keep reapplying it, will work wonders.

[goldfire]

Spending all that money on the expensive nivia and banana boat products whilst understandable in your situation was probably ill advised. Sunburn as with pretty much every other burn type follows the same rules of treatment. Cooling/Healing Gels are ok, creams of ANY kind should be avoided, any doctor that actually studied will tell you that. Light dressing's etc. Everyone saying Aloe being the one of, if not the best though is correct (The lady saying that it's less or ineffective unless used pretty much immediately however is incorrect, it will be effective anywhere up to 5 days, by which the bulk damage of your burn has already healed, unless it was severe to warrant hospitalization ). The 2 main powers of using Aloe are it's ability to moisturize the skin, which helps pain management as well as minimizing peeling

A very simple product is "Solacane" (spelling may be wrong I don't have any here at the moment) or similar from your local Cole's or woolies. It's cheap and highly effective, fresh aloe however is pretty much the bomb, as mentioned before store it in the fridge to cool it.. it feels great.

Oh on another note, growing aloe is fine, i have 2 plants myself in pots, but be warned that if you put it in a garden bed, it like mint or lavender can and 90% will take over everthing. Keep on top of it and split out the plants on occasion and you can pretty much heap abuse on it and it'll keep providing natural healing all year round.

Hope your burn heals quickly

Have a nice day.

[the_scotsman]

We use this stuff, Iced Green Tea After Sun Spray Gel (we bought it from a chemist):

http://www.4lifebrands.com.au/Products/After_Sun/

We keep it in the fridge so it's cold when sprayed on but it's the most soothing thing I have ever found for sunburn...nothng beats it!

[sgt_doofey]

St John's Procedure for treating sunburn:

1. Rest the casualty in a cool place.
2. Place under a cold shower, in a cold bath, or sponge with cold water.
3. Apply cool gauze padding to the burnt area.
4. Give cool drinks.
5. Seek medical aid for young babies and casualties with blisters.

Sunburn to eyes:
1. Cover eyes with thick, cool, moist dressing to cool them and keep light out.
2. Reassure the casualty.
3. Seek medical aid.

Taken from the St John Manual for First Aid that I received from doing Senior First Aid last year.

[aye you]

Get yourself a spray call "Paxel" (sp.) its a local anasthetic spray for sunburn. great stuff, just spray it on and in about 5/10mins the pain will be all but gone, allowing you to touch it to put creams on.

[Geez Louise]

I have found the sun this summer really bitey!! Arrived in WA and second day here was 40...day after 38..spent all day at Cottesloe beach applying 30+. Had my hat and sunnies on too but I am now peeling!!! Came as a shock to all on the beach seeing 5 Ghosts arrive on the beach but within 2 days...brown as!! Love the sun but it does feel stingy this year!

I agree with the whole Aloe Vera plant thing....works a treat!