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Beauty

How to Deal with Sunburns

One minute you're lying on the beach, the next you're red as a lobster!

Sunburns are super uncomfortable, but they can also be dangerous: having just six sunburns in your life can increase your risk of getting melanoma (a type of skin cancer) by 50 percent.

Already toasty? Here’s how to deal. Next time, don’t forget the SPF!


Get out of the sun
If you're lying out and your skin starts to sting, feel sensitive or tender, you're getting burned! Get in the shade ASAP or cover up.

Soothe the burn
If you're already fried, soothe your skin with a washcloth soaked in cold black tea or skim milk. Sounds weird, but the tannic acid in the tea will calm the inflammation, and the protein in milk will help heal your skin. Aloe vera gel can also help soothe the burn. Another tip: avoid tight clothes—they just make sunburns feel worse.

Stay hydrated
Getting a bad burn zaps your body of water, so be sure to keep drinking fluids when your skin is burned. Keep a water bottle near you to sip on—it will help the inflamed redness of your burn go down.
 
Moisturize
When the peeling starts it can be so tempting to pick and peel away the flaking skin. Try to resist it, because it could cause further damage to your healing skin. Instead, apply a calming and simple moisturizer to the healing areas to aid your skin in it’s renewing process. After your skin isn’t so sensitive, getting a moisturizer with antioxidants in it will help to rejuvenate your skin and keep visible damage at bay.

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by Abby Cheney and Alissa Scheller | 2/1/2016
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