I love summer! My girls and I all love being out in the sun. I love the health benefits of the vitamin D acquired from time in the sun. However, too much sun without proper protection can end up being pretty painful. In preparation for summer camping activities, I whipped up this simple DIY sunburn relief lotion with essential oils. Look for my post soon about other helpful essential oils I will be sending with Biggs to her first sleep away camp.
Start with prevention
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Getting burned to a crisp isn’t any fun! However, many sunscreen options include ingredients that we are learning can be detrimental to health. I look forward to experimenting and sharing a DIY recipe for sunscreen in the future, but I’m just not there quite yet. So in the meantime, I have lots of this sunscreen on hand for our fun sunny adventures. It’s still not quite as natural as I’d like, but it checks a lot of the boxes of what I’d like to avoid. It’s also much more affordable than completely ”natural” options. Coppertone is a well known brand I grew up with, so for now I feel protected from sunburns. However, I still want to be well prepared to soothe the discomfort and expedite healing should a sunburn occur.
Sun and ADHD
Before I get to the recipe, here is some encouragement to enjoy some fun in the sun. Vitamin D is great for mental health and immunity. Particularly important in our household is the benefit it may have on ADHD. Here is one article that discusses the benefit of sun with ADHD. Read my post here about dogs in an ADHD household, and the benefit of the sun and exercise. Find some ways to enjoy a little sun, hopefully without the sunburn!
Reducing our toxic load
When things like “BPA free” first became a big thing, I started to decide everything increased cancer risk, and kinda gave up. But now that I have kiddos, I am learning about positive impacts of decreasing our toxic load. I am motivated to take the time and learn how to make small steps in that direction. It is a slow process, but each small change gets us one step closer. Sometimes it isn’t practical to make our own products due to time or money, but when it works, it feels great to make informed decisions about our products.
Here’s the simple recipe for sunburn relief lotion with essential oils
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup shea butter
- 2 tbs grape seed soil (sweet almond oil is also a great choice, but I didn’t have any on hand)
- 1 tbs vitamin E oil
- 1 tbs rose hips oil
- 20 drops lavender essential oil
- 20 drops helichrysum essential oil
Instructions
- Use a mixer or a food processor (I have gotten so much use out of this one for both cooking and DIY) to combine ingredients besides essential oils and mix. I prefer my food processor over a mixer to keep splatters to a minimum.
- Alternate mixing and scraping down the sides to ensure everything mixes evenly.
- Add in essential oils and mix again thoroughly. Lotion should be creamy and transfer easily to storage containers with a spatula.
- Store in airtight containers like these jars (great bulk option for many DIY recipes). This recipe filled 3 of these jars.
Why I love essential oil remedies
As a nurse, I am not against Western medicine. However, I think there are so many older natural remedies that have so much benefit too. The essential oils are a great starting place for minor discomforts that don’t require acute medical attention. When used properly, there are minimal side effects, and are many benefits. Just like medications, different oils work better for different people. But they offer great low risk remedies to try for minor discomforts, and can often be used safely alongside medication as needed for additional benefit. Many times I have been able to decrease or eliminate the need to take other medications with added side effect simply by using essential oils. But please follow the advice of your medical professional for your specific situation. Essential oils are not a replacement for proper medical treatment when needed!
Other simple remedies you might like
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The content in this post is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. It is merely opinion based on personal research and experience.
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