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I have been gradually going tanning to help both get a tan...and to build up the skin enough so I can take off my shirt outside and not get burnt.
I can tan, but it takes time and I burn pretty easily.
Anyway...this is like week 3 or 4...so I decided to bump it up to 8 minutes on the standing machine.
Well it's only 6 hours later, but I feel it. I can see the red coming. Worse, is when I get a sunburn of any kind, I get a real bad itch all over my body that won't stop.
So my questions
1) What's up with that itch...most people when they get a burn, just have a burn, what is and why do I have that itch?
2) What's the best remedy to relieve the itch...benedryl? Ointment?
3) I do this because I want to go to the beach and not have to worry about getting an awful itchy burn or have to keep my shirt on in the water all day....what exactly can I do to prevent it?
-I Know sun tan lotion, but which that prevents and can still allow a tan?
25?
I would take a cool shower to temporarily take the sting out of your sunburn. Then use Noxzema (Original, or with Aloe Vera) and apply it to the area that you have the sun burn and it should help.
If your skin is burnt to such an extreme that it is dark tinted, or has blisters you could have 3rd degree burns and should see a health care provider as quickly as possible.
If you have blisters and can't or won't see a Doctor, try not to pop them and allow them to heal and drain on their own before peeling. If you tear the skin off of a popped blister the raw skin underneath could become severely infected.
Take it from a fellow tanner - you are going to burn, like it or not, early in the season. Just a fact of life. Do NOT use Noxema - you will experience a new kind of pain. Go get some Cocoa Butter. And I mean even the Palmers (low cost). It works wonders on taking the sting out - and prevents peeling.
I always keep a bottle of aloe vera gel in the fridge and slap it on (gently!) real thick if we get burned. There's also a spray version but we prefer the gel. The key is to use lots of it, and at least a couple of applications in a few hours. It seems to kill the burn and pain the quickest and best for us the rare time one of my family gets sunburned. I think the itch might be from the burn having dried out your skin.
Take a cool bath and put white vinegar in the water. It takes the sting out and cools the burn. Then apply aloe but make sure you buy a pure one that isn't loaded with frangrance and or contains alcohol because that can make you itch. Sunburns are itchy. Especially on fair people because the bottom line is in a "sense" you are allergic to the sun. You are itching because you skin is trying to heal itself after the damage it sustained. There are two types of sun care. Sun block which does not allow you to tan and suncreen which does. Both come in every range of SPF. If you really want to tan buy a high SPF sunSCREEN not sunBLOCK.
I get itchy from any type of sun exposure. There is a name for it. It's called solar urticaria. For some people, exposure to UV rays initiates an allergic reaction.
1) What's up with that itch...most people when they get a burn, just have a burn, what is and why do I have that itch?
The thing is, you've damaged your skin. A sunburn is a burn, and the itch is caused by the skin trying to repair itself. Since no one else has said it, I'll bite: Don't tan. It's awful for your skin.
Ditto that...pale is better than wrinkles & cancer any day.
Count me out on the tanning, I fake it. My mother is a product of tanning and lack of skin care. She looks about 15 years older than she is.
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