By Paul Bergner

Q. Oops! I know better, but I got too much sun today. Are there any herbs I can use to heal my sunburn and prevent permanent damage to my skin?

A. The soothing saps of aloe veraand related plant species have served as sunburn and other minor burn remedies in the folk traditions of Native Americans, New Englanders, the Amish, inhabitants of Indiana and North Georgia, Gypsies in Spain, and Chinese immigrants in the US. Researchers tested aloe vera on burns at the University of Puerto Rico in 1988 and found that the sap reduced healing time by 40 percent. In addition to relieving pain and inflammation, aloe vera gel also acts as a disinfectant—reducing the bacterial counts in burns—and lessens scarring. What’s more, aloe vera can heal the minor injuries to sunburned skin that make exposed areas more susceptible to skin cancers at a later time.

Look for aloe-based sunburn remedies at your local natural products store. Or, if you have your own plant, break off a piece of leaf and squeeze the juice out the way you would toothpaste out of a tube. You can mix 2 oz fresh-squeezed aloe vera sap (or aloe vera gel purchased from the store) with 8 ounces of extra virgin olive oil or good quality cold-pressed almond oil. Place the sap or gel in a large bowl and add the oil a little at a time, constantly stirring it in. Apply the oil directly to the sunburn.

Calendula flower (pot marigold) preparations also work as powerful skin healers. Calendula salves consist of oils that have been soaked with calendula flowers and then mixed with beeswax to give them a firm enough consistency so they will stay on your skin. The oil and wax also soothe minor burns. (Never put a beeswax-based salve on cuts or broken skin that might be infected—the beeswax can “seal in” an infection and promote growth of the kind of bacteria that thrive in oxygen-free environments.)
You can also make a strong tea of calendula flowers and use it as a wash on the sunburn. Lightly simmer an ounce of flowers in a quart of water for 15 to 20 minutes. You can dab the cooled tea on your sunburn with a cloth.

Paul Bergner is Director of the North American Institute of Medical Herbalism in Boulder, Colorado, and editor of the journal Medical Herbalism.