PAINFUL SUNBURN.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 155, 21 October 1926, Page 2

PAINFUL SUNBURN.

ITS PREVENTION AND CURE. The habit of lying on the beach or drying oneself in the sun is delightful if one belongs to the fortunate few to whom sunburn means merely a pleasant and becoming tan. But many women, particularly those whose fair skin is a matter for justifiable pride, find their holiday pleasure spoilt by the red, ugly and very often extremely painful blotches that appear wherever they are rash enough to expose themselves. In its early stages, when it is more than a tender redness of the skin, the old fashioned remedy of elder-flower water slightly perfumed with rose or lavender essence is worth trying. It should be dabbed on with a piece of cotton wool at frequent intervals and allowed to dry. The redness will usually disappear after quite a short time. A less dainty, but very efficacious, remedy is lead lotion, which may be brought at any chemist's. It dries leaving a powdery sediment which is particularly soothing to the irritation which often accompanies sunburn. If the skin is sore, zinc or boraeie ointment should be applied, and the place covered as far as possible from contact with the air. Water, especially sea-water, aggravates sunburn considerably. It may be hard advice to follow, but sufferers should deny themselves the daily bathe until the skin is better, and should even use soap and water as sparingly as possible. A woman who is afraid of sunburn, in fact, should never wash her face, arms, and neck during the summer holiday. They can be cleaned with copious applications of , cold cream, wiped off with an old handkerchief, while a saucerful of milk is not an expensive luxury, and is an even better substitute for soap and wa'er.

Dry skins being more liable to the ill-effects of sunburn than those that have plenty of natural oil, cream should be used freely to make up for deficiencies. It is a mistake, however, to apply cold cream to one’s skin just before venturing into'the sun (apart from the consideration of appearances) as under the heat many creams are apt to go rancid before they are absorbed. Instead Fuller’s earth or powdered starch should be powdered over the neck and arms and gently rubbed into the skin. Being non-conductors of heat they afford a certain amount of protection.