Come summer and along with it come all those mouth-watering mangoes, cool melons and refreshing salads. However, along with summer swimming also comes the dreaded sunburn. Like the parched earth, our skins also tend to become more dry and stinging.
Despite all your precautions you may underestimate the intensity of the sun and your ability to withstand it, and the result is a bad case of sunburn. Sunburn dehydrates skin in such a way that the top layers of skin cells slough off making you peel and blister, which can be both extremely irritating and painful as well as ugly.
Sunburn actually occurs when the epidermal cells are bombarded by burning UV- rays causing the enzyme capsules within to burst, destroying the cells and releasing an irritating substance into the surrounding tissue.
The other effect of these powerful rays is to dilute the tiny blood vessels which lie just below the skins surface. As more blood is pumped through them, their walls break down and leak serum and blood toxins, leading to external redness, then swelling and possibly blisters and localised pain.
Warning signs
Many women do not know that they are in danger of burning. What are the warning signs that you should look out for? Examine your skin. Does it look slightly red or feel sore and tender to a light touch? If it displays either of these telltale signs get out of the sun immediately before you damage it further. If you are wearing a sunscreen and these symptoms still appear, it may be due to two reasons. Either you are wearing too low an SPF number to protect your skin adequately or you are exposing your skin for long and should limit your walk or swim to early in the morning or in the evening when the sun is less intense.
If you burn, your skin will get very dehydrated and you should try to replace some of the lost moisture immediately. Splash some cold water onto the affected area to take the burn out of your skin. An excellent sunburn soother would be to fill an ice-tray with water to which you have added five tablespoon of honey. When this freezes, rub the honey ice-cubes all over the face and let the skin soak up its goodness as honey is nature’s most powerful moisturiser. If the burn is more extensive, have a cool bath and add a few drops of soothing oil. Relax in it for about 10 minutes or so but not for very long. Never rub yourself vigorously with a towel-obviously this would be very painful and may even aggravate your burns. Gently pat yourself dry and massage in a soothing, moisturising after sun-lotion or a specialised medicated sunburn treatment.
Keep on moisturising
Your skin cannot get enough water at a time like this. If you go out walking, cover up any sun burnt areas and protect yourself with a sun block. You may experience problems sleeping at night. Every time you turn in your sleep you will be awaken feeling sore and burning. Sleep with light cotton fabrics and sheets and even better would be to generously powder the sheets with a fragrant talcum. This will relieve any discomfort and make the bad clothes feel softer and more comfortable against your skin.
Protecting your lips
Because your lips do not contain protective melanin granules or oil glands unlike your skin, they need extra protection in the sun. Intense sunshine causes them to dehydrate, crack, burn and blister. You may even develop a nasty lip-sore, which could take several days to clear up. Protect them with a special lip screen. These come in handy swivel cases and those that have a built-in sun block will block out all ultraviolet rays.
If you are caught short without a lips screen you can make do with an ordinary glossy lipstick which will seal in moisture and afford some measure of protection. Remember that an intense strong summer wind can chap and burn your lips too — always protect them when out walking. A fine coating of sesame seed oil or even petroleum jelly will help relieve the problem. At home you can make a simple lip pack from malai, honey and besan. Make a thick paste and coat the lips. Leave on for 15 minutes and wash off for smooth, soft lips.
Diet can also help in speeding up your skins recovery and you should try to take multi-vitamin tablets and a zinc supplement everyday in addition to eating whole foods and atleast one salad.
Suparna Trikha
The columnist is a beauty and nature care expert
@suparnatrikha