How to quench charred Skin

Hey Chicas!

So I’m back and recovered, somewhat.  The remnants of the burn, is the lovely peeling.  A constant reminder of the stupidness of charring your skin (and the bada$$ tan lines), at any point in your life!

A visual reminder!

Having said that, I have tested out a number of Sun Burn “Relief” agents, and lived to talk about it.  So here is your complete  list of the best and the ok ones.  Not that you will need it, because we won’t ever be that stupid.  Right?.......Right?

The first one that I tried is the standard Aloe Vera.  Just because its Hempz doesn’t mean that it’s the best.......you got that?  It is for all intensive purposes the exact same as Life Brand aloe vera, but if you’re like me, you want to know for sure, and I know, it’s the same!  

•  Its sticky, as all aloe vera is (as in it took 5 full minutes to peel off an oversized shirt from my back, not the best when the skin in tender) 
• Has a nice smell 
• Can be cheap 
•  Slight Moisturizing  effect Slight cooling effect (didn’t take out the feel of heat in my sever burn, but on slight redness I have no doubt it would work)

The next in line was the Hawaiian Tropic I.C.E Lidocaine Gel. 

• It is definitely less sticky then the aloe, 
• Loved the smell, 
• It was BLUE! 
• Great pump 
• Took the heat out more than the Aloe but still not all gone 
•  Could  apply lots of it and still absorb (not that easy with the aloe)

I found an article on line about good ol’ fashioned Noxzema working wonderful to decrease the amount of heat in the burn.  So I bought a tub and decided to give it ago.

• You need a buddy (aka very hard to apply yourself, as its a thick creamy consistency and wants to stay on your hands) 
• You need to apply a few layers 
• I liked the smell....its standard Noxzema scent, so decide for yourself 
• Has the tingly cooling feeling (in a good way) 
• It doesn’t look pretty on 
• Hard to remove

Next came the Solarcaine Medicated Lidocaine Gel.  I picked this up at Wal-Mart, I remembered my  brother having this stuff in his room, when I was growing, he cut commercial grass, so I figured it could be too bad.

• Easy squeeze tube bottle (great for slippery fingers and hands) 
• Has a nice fresh scent 
• Could feel the cooling sensation 
• Noticed relief of heat in my skin (Major)

 At this stage, the burn has gone down, as it would have without using anything.  So I thought that I could try the Vaseline Aloe Fresh Moisturizing, which is a daily moisturizing gel. 

• Not sticky at all, 
• Absorbs very fast 
• Slight cooling feeling 
•  Slight moisturizing

So all in all, it was a helpful little exercise, unnecessary, but helpful.

If you have a slight pink tinge from being out in the sun or at the beach, the standard Aloe Vera, would be fine.  I actually think that the Vaseline Aloe Fresh, would work better because it’s not as sticky, but compared to the aloe vera, not at all. 

If you have a severe burn then that stuff’s not gonna cut it!  Now the Noxzema was the best to remove the heat from the burn, but its messy, very messy.   You need someone to help you apply it.  And you have to remove the excess from your skin because it kinda dries itself and the extra remains.  The issue is that it remains a white gloppy mess, its not like you could go anywhere with it, it had to be removed.  The only way was to basically have a shower, we have a hand shower and someone had to rub my back with a soft wash cloth to remove the stuff, and it wasn’t a fast process, and it hurt a little a lot actually.  So it removed a lot, a lot of heat from my back, but I’m still unsure if the removal process is worth the gain.

Having said that, the best one is the Solarcaine Medicated Lidocaine Gel, see even Emma approves!   

I think it worked the best because of the Medicated Lidocaine, the Hawaiian Tropics has Lidocaine as well, and both have the same amount of the Lidocaine 0.5%.  So I’m not sure why one felt better than the other, but I’m going with the Solarcaine!

So I hope you found that helpful, but something that you will never need to use!

Caitlin xoxo

What you need to know about sun protection.

Hey Chicas!

I was talking to a fellow co-worker the other day, and as the topic usually does it drifted to makeup/skincare…(I’m likely the cause of those shifts..hehe) then onto sun protection. I don’t know if it is because of the course in esthetics and other skincare types ones, but she didn’t know too much about sun protection products, other than its good to wear them outside. Which is good to know but there is soo much more to it.

That got me thinking…maybe there are lots of you out there that don’t know either. So I thought that a great new post would be about sun protection….especially the difference between sunblock and sunscreen (there is one ya know). Hopefully this will help you get the most out of what is left for our summer on the east cost of Canada.

Well I’m sure that we have all walked down the “seasonal” isle at our local drugstore and were floored by the large selection of sun protection products. They have expensive ones, to store brand ones, all at different price points, SPF levels. And believe me it is hard to stay unflustered looking when you have no idea what it is that you are looking at, or for. Let the lesson begin, students eyes forward!
There is one main difference between most sun protection products, sunscreen and sunblock, if you look close enough on most bottles near the SPF level it will state this difference.

What is the difference you are asking? Let me tell you…

Sunblock contains physical or inorganic ingredients that sit on top of the skin and help to actually block the UVB light by reflecting and scattering the rays. Sunblock is ecentailly a wall between your skin and the sun’s rays. For the best kind of protection look for Titanium Dioxide or Zinc Oxide as the main ingredients, as these tend to be less irritating to sensitive skin.

 

Sunscreen contains chemical compounds that help to protect your skin by being absorbed into the skin. That is is why you have to apply then 10-2- minutes before exposure to ensure enough time as elapsed for the product to become effective. Sunscreens actually allow a certain range of UV light to be absorbed into the skin.

Now to discuss the difference between UVA and UVB rays. There is always a lot of talk, but what are and what do they do? Well, UVB are generally refered to as the “tanning ray” as it affects the outer layer of the skin the epidermis and is the usual suspect that causes the sunburns. UVA rays are the major contributor to skin damage and cause acceleration of the aging process. They can penetrate deeper into the skin through the epidermis and disperses in the dermis (the true skin).

All that being said….you need a sunscreen that has both UVA and UVB protection, one is not good without the other. They are like a pair, ya know like um….a killer pedicure to go with those sandals.

Another important consideration is the SPF level. SPF stands for sun protection factor, which is a rating system from 2-70 and refers to the length of time a sun protection location remains effective on the skin. That can be a little misleading as SPF numbers are based only on UVB blockage and not the ability to block UVA. Also, if you usually use a SPF of 15 (which I feel is too low…personal opinion) going up to a SPF of 30 will not double your protection time. The correlation to the SPF number and protection is nonlinear meaning it doesn’t double the blocking ability of the lotion, just increase it.

So if you want to be on the safe side….reapply every 2 hours, and more often if swimming, sweating or if the UV level is high that day. A little tidbit of information I tell my friends that I learned in school is “Every time you burn your face, it will age you 10 years down the line”. That little bit of information is hopefully scary enough for you to at least think about sun protection at the beach.

Sunscreens have a shelf life…*gasp*....I know they really do, as do all cosmetics. If you are still using a sunscreen that you purchased last summer…well lets just say that I hope it’s a good moisturizer, since that’s all you’re getting from it. The chemical blockers and compounds breakdown over time and become less effective, sometimes losing their effectiveness all together. The general rule which I go by, is to keep the sunscreen in a drawer after the summer season for use throughout the winter months (since you should be wearing it all year round) and when summer comes around for the next season toss it all out. For a general rule of thumb 6-12 months (12 would be pushing it). Also, any face cream or protection creams that have SPF in them, will have a shorter shelf life as the ingredients in the creams will breakdown the ones in the SPF so you may think that you are saving money, but in the end they last half as long.

 

Whatever brand you decide to buy, pick one that works best for you.

Hopefully this little lesson will help in protecting your skin….beacuse no one….and I mean ABSOLUTLY NO ONE want to look like this EVER

On that happy note (haha), enjoy the sun!

Caitlin xoxo