Introduction
Going out in the sun could be quite fun if it wasn’t for those sunburns. You forget to put on sunscreen one time and your skin gets all inflamed, red, and hurts like hell. Along with the pain and swelling, your skin gets red, and the redness may last for a while. And we are here to tell you why your skin remains red after a bad sunburn. If you too are wondering why your skin remains red after a bad sunburn, let’s just read ahead.
What Are Sunburns:
Our skin has a pigment called melanin which determines how dark our skin is going to be. Along with determining the color of our skin, melanin also protects our skin from the UV rays of the sun to an extent.
People who do not have much melanin in their skin have lighter skin, and their skin gets directly affected by the UV rays of the sun. This results in your skin getting damaged. The symptoms of this damage include your skin turning red or pink, swelling and inflammation, blisters, and pain. In some severe cases, you may even feel symptoms like nausea, headache, and eye pain.
How Does a Sunburn Affect Your Skin:
The sign that sun exposure is changing your skin is direct proof that your skin has gotten permanently damaged by the sun. In the case of sunburns, the immediate reaction is that often the skin gets red and swollen, and after a while, it may start to peel off.
Frequent exposures to UV rays are never a good thing. It can increase the risk of serious skin conditions like melanoma. Along with that, dark spots and wrinkles might also appear on your skin if you stay too often in the sun. Your skin ages faster because of sun damage, so your best bet is to avoid it at all costs.
Why Does Your Skin Remain Red After A Bad Sunburn?
Your skin can stay red for quite a while after you had a sunburn. Even the milder cases of sunburns, your skin can stay red for about 3 days. If the sunburn is a bit more severe, it may last for about a week. When your skin starts peeling off, you’ll know that your sunburn is starting to heal. If the sunburn stays on your skin, the redness will remain too.
Now you know why your skin remains red after a bad sunburn, it’s because your skin becomes permanently damaged by the rays of the sun. The redness will stay for about 3-7 days, and it is quite common. You don’t need to worry about why your skin remains red after a bad sunburn, even if the redness lasts a week. Your skin needs time to heal, which is the answer to why does your skin remain red after a bad sunburn. If your skin remains red for weeks, then maybe it’s time for you to go to a doctor.
How To Get Rid of the Redness from Your Skin After A Bad Sunburn:
If you are too worried about why your skin remains red after a bad sunburn, you may try these methods to get rid of the redness and pain faster. They may help reduce the inflammation and soothe your skin at least a little.
1. Use Water
First and foremost, you need to realize that the sun soaks up a lot of water from your body and skin. So, you need to give that water back to your body. You should drink plenty of water to keep your skin hydrated and minimize the damage.
Water can help in more than one way. You can use the colling and calming effect of water to soothe your sunburned skin. You can take a long cold-water bath and soak your sunburned skin in the water to cool it down. Ice packs can also help to soothe your skin. The pain and inflammation will reduce thanks to the cooling effect of the cold water.
2. Try Soothing Ingredients
You also try other calming ingredients like Aloe Vera to soothe your skin even more. Aloe Vera is great for sunburns because it can instantly reduce the inflammation on your skin. It also stimulates collagen production, which can help you get rid of that pain and redness real fast.
You can also try other soothing ingredients like coconut oil, witch hazel, and oatmeal. These can soothe and hydrate your skin which will help you get rid of the sunburn faster.
3. Be Patient and Don’t Go Out In The Sun
If the blisters stay on your skin, don’t be too tempted to pop them. Let them heal at their own pace, otherwise, you may end up making the condition worse. This should go without saying, but don’t go out in the sun when your sunburn is not yet healed. Your skin is just in the process of healing. Exposing it to direct sunlight at this point will give the sun direct access to damage your cells, so stay away from the sun. Even after the sunburn is healed, take precautions to protect your skin while going out in the sun.
4. Cover The Redness Up
Meanwhile, if the redness lasts, your option is to make it disappear is by using makeup. Use a good concealer to hide the redness on your skin. Blend it properly, but make sure that you do not damage your blisters. Once your blisters heal, let your skin peel off by itself, and you’ll get rid of all the redness from the sunburn.
How To Protect Yourself from Sunburns:
So far, we are sure you’ve learned that sunburns and the redness that comes with them are not quite easy to get rid of. So, it is better that you learn how to protect your skin from sunburns altogether. That is heaps easier than concealing the redness, and in the long term, it will save your skin from damage and even serious skin conditions like melanoma.
1. Never Forget to Put on Sunscreen
The most important thing to remember while going out in the sun is to wear sunscreen. Always put on sunscreen with at least SPF 30 to protect your skin from sunburns. Don’t forget your lips, they are quite sensitive and get affected by the sun a lot. You must keep applying sunscreen after every two hours if you want to be completely safe from the sun.
Never ever forget to put on sunscreen. Even one bad exposure to sun rays to your skin can damage your skin a lot if you don’t have sunscreen on. So, always keep a bottle of sunscreen in your bag whenever you go out.
And not to forget, you are not completely immune from the sun even when you are not in direct contact with the sun. So, don’t forget to put it on even in the winter. Even if it is not too sunny, the sun still has a very good chance of being able to damage your skin, so don’t forget your sunscreen armor.
2. Dark and Thick Clothing Is Your Best Friend
Along with sunscreen, you should wear darker clothes that cover up most of your skin if you want to be safe from the sun. Sunscreen can protect your skin but having a layer of clothing will be always better. Black is the best color when it comes to sun protection. So, you may want to add a couple of full-sleeved black pieces made of thick clothing for whenever you need to go out in the sun. You may have noticed, the areas of your skin that are covered up by clothing often tend to get less unburned rather than the exposed areas. Use this knowledge to your advantage to provide maximum protection to your skin.
3. Hug The Shadows
No matter how much sunscreen and dark clothing you wear, the pesky UV rays of the sun can still find a way to get to your skin and damage it. So, it is best to avoid the direct rays of the sun as much as possible. You’ve heard of wall huger, but if you want to protect yourself from the UV rays of the sun, you’ll have to become a shadow hugger. Try to stay in the shade as much as possible. The avoidance of direct sunlight will help to protect your skin from sunburns.
4. Accessories To the Rescue
Do you know what sunhats and sunglasses are for? To protect your skin and eyes from the sun. Use them, they can provide quite a lot of protection to your skin and eyes. The shade of the sunhat is like walking with your very own shade, and what can be better than that to protect your skin from the sun. You won’t need to look for the shadows if you have a sunhat on, because you have your very own shadow.
Conclusion
Well, now you know why your skin remains red after a bad sunburn and how to get rid of it. But we will say that prevention is always better than cure. So, try to protect yourself from sunburn altogether as much as possible. As you’ve seen long-term sun damage has negative effects and no one wants them. If you are successful in protecting your skin from sun damage, you’ll get to enjoy beautiful and younger-looking skin for quite a long time.
