Yesterday was a beautiful day so we decided to go out to the beach with our family. We applied sun screen, went swimming, sat on the beach and enjoyed the beautiful weather. All in all it was a great day. Well… until my husband started to have a lot of discomfort on his upper back later in the evening. I looked and you guessed it, BRIGHT RED. It turns out he didn’t have any sunscreen on his back!
Of course, as a result, I started searching the internet for after sun remedies using essential oils to help soothe the irritation and bring down the redness. Today I am going to share a variety of recipes I found and share what I used on my husband’s back.
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Essential Oil After Sun Recipes
My After Sun Essential Oil Concoction
Many of the recipes I found online called for aloe vera which I didn’t have. So I tried to take a number of recipes and put together something of my own. It seems to be working quite well. After 1 application (I checked it this morning so about 12 hours later), the redness is down, there isn’t any peeling and he is not complaining of pain.
So what did I use?
- 2TBSP Fractionated Coconut Oil
- 1 TBSP Witch Hazel
- 8 drops of Lavender Essential Oil
- 8 drops Tea Tree Essential Oil
- 4 drops Frankincense Essential Oil
- 4 drops Copaiba Essential Oil (if you don’t have copaiba try 8 drops of Frankincense instead of 4)
I am storing it in a glass container and applying to his back as needed.
*NOTE: As you may know, I use doTERRA essential oils however since doTERRA doesn’t carry Copaiba I have linked to it on the Young Living site which is the brand of Copaiba that I use.
After Sun Essential Oil Spray Recipes
Ok, so that’s what I used, now I will share some great recipes I found in my online search!
After Sun Spray
This recipe is from One Essential Community and uses a total of 6 natural ingredients. You will need: witch hazel, aloe vera, vitamin E, fractionated coconut oil, lavender essential oil and peppermint essential oil. You can get the full recipe here!
Homemade After Sun Spray
This recipe from MommyPotamus uses only 2 ingredients and gives you lots of choices allowing you to use the supplies you have on hand. Choose a base of either apple cider vinegar OR witch hazel and then use 1 of 4 essential oils! Seems pretty easy! Get the recipe here!
DIY After Sun Essential Oil Blends
Enjoy Natural Health has put together 4 different blends using a variety of essential oils to help soothe skin itch and irritation. See all of the blends here!
DIY After Sun Soothing Spray – doTERRA
The base of this recipe is similar to the first one listed however it doesn’t use witch hazel. It uses lavender, tea tree and peppermint essential oils! Get the recipe here!
Other Natural After Sun Remedies
Shea Butter
All Natural Ideas discusses the many benefits of shea butter on the skin including helping with inflammation and irritation after too much time in the sun! Learn more here!
Apple Cider Vinegar
Real Food RN shares that uses apple cider vinegar after too much sun can help soothe the burning and stinging feelings. It also helps turn the redness into a tan faster. Learn more here!
There you have it, some all natural essential oil after sun recipes to help you soothe your sore summer skin!
Looking for more ways to use essential oils this summer? Check out my summer essential oil post!
This is a very good idea. I’d never thought of using essential oils for sunburns. It’s amazing how versatile they are!
Out of curiosity, do you have an alternative to coconut oil in the recipe? I’m allergic.
Shea butter sounds soothing. It’s interesting how it treats different things from the apple cider vinegar.
I would use another carrier oil like grapeseed oil. It will sit on the skin longer and no absorb as quickly as FCO but should still be effective as would jojoba oil.