I don’t care what anyone says – summer is objectively the best season of the year. Yes, social media will always be awash with memes where those annoying ‘in-between’ people profess their love for neutral “blah” seasons like fall: Or the season that I like to call ‘a poor man’s summer’, AKA spring. Yes, flowers start blooming again in the spring, but is that all it has to offer? Summer is simply incomparable, and that’s especially the case if you happen to live in a particularly cold and dreary country. But even if you are accustomed to the warmth and a lack of constant rainfall, I would still argue that summer trumps any other season. In the summer, it’s much easier to be active compared to in the winter. For instance, you don’t have to limit your time with your friends to a hangout at the mall or the movie theater. Instead, you can hit the beach or perhaps go to a rooftop bar. There’s also plenty more daylight – it’s always a joy when you finish work and you still have couple hours left of, well, not complete darkness. Unfortunately, every good thing always has its downsides. And the main downside to summer is the fact that the intense heat instantly makes us our skin a lot more vulnerable. On a particularly hot day, just being out for just ten minutes can cause you to burn. And, as we all know, not taking proper precautions to prevent sunburn can lead to some particularly harrowing consequences – namely, skin cancer. Even amongst the most careful people, burning in summer is pretty much inevitable. But what if you had an effective yet basic remedy to deal with these burns? Well, it turns out you do. Recently, a mother-of-two from Texas went viral for publicising her incredible treatment for sunburn. And it’s actually being backed by medical experts! Cindie Allen-Stewart claimed that she had a quick and effective cure for sunburn and that all we need is something that we most likely already have in our bathroom cabinets at home. Many dermatologists who have seen the post have agreed with her advice. Learn more about the science behind sunburns: Cindie had only intended to share a handy tip with her Facebook friends about how best to deal with sunburn: “I recently told a friend about a sunburn treatment that works wonders,” she explained. “She told me she had never heard about it, so I figured I’d make a post because I was sunburned recently.” This ‘sunburn treatment’ is incredibly simple and doesn’t involve any homemade ointments made from a cocktail of various ingredients. All you need is foamy menthol shaving cream, which, let’s face it, you most likely have at home anyway. According to Cindie, spreading the foam on a burn will usually cure it in just a few hours, and so it’s a much quicker treatment than most of the others, for instance, cold compresses. And what makes the treatment even more appealing is that, according to Cindie, her skin usually doesn’t peel after a burn. “I burn, then do shaving cream, and the next day, it’s usually gone,” she explains. “You don’t want to just put it straight on your back because it’s really cold. You want someone to put it on their hand and rub it on.” You simply have to let the foam soak on the burn for about half an hour or so and then wash it off using lukewarm water. If the burn happens to last until the next day, it’s probably worth repeating the treatment. Doctors have confirmed that this viral method of curing sunburn is actually pretty effective. Cindie may have learned about this remarkable shaving cream treatment decades ago, but it’s only now that it’s being given the attention it deserves. “If you look at the ingredients of shaving cream, it’s really a great moisturizer,” Dr. Ross Radusky told Inside Edition. “It has a lot of coconut oil, coconut butter or derivatives of it. That’s actually what gives it some of its thickness and why you sort of lather it on.” Its moisturizing qualities, in addition to its ingredients like glycerin, assist in repairing the damaged skin. Plus the ‘cool’ menthol will help soothe the pain of a particularly intense burn. Medical experts have warned, however, that the cream won’t treat inflammation and redness as effectively as medicines like low-potency steroid creams. And hopefully, this goes without saying, but if you happen to have severe burns that don’t seem to heal, you should definitely go see your doctor rather than attempt to treat them yourself. Also, as effective as the shaving cream method is, it definitely has its downsides. One such downside is the fact that persistent use of shaving creams can go on to cause acne and other skin-related problems. That’s especially the case if the cream is left on for more than a few minutes. So if you are tempted to try this anti-sunburn method, be prepared for a potential breakout. Also, if we’re strictly going by expert medical advice, the best treatment for burns is still plenty of rest and re-hydration. Of course, the experts also emphasize that wearing sunscreen to prevent burning in the first place is the wisest method. It’s totally up to you if you want to try out the shaving cream method, but like they always say: prevention is better than cure. Source
