Turmeric Paste For Sunburn-Clean Swap or Total Flop?!
Most of us know the feeling. You’ve had a happy, carefree day in the sun. All of that happiness seeps away and turns into sheer terror, anxiety and dread the minute you arrive home. You forgot to put on sunscreen. You FORGOT to put on SUNSCREEN. Cue the classic Psycho-shower-scene-scream.
I realize this sounds pretty theatrical but guys - a few weeks ago, I got the most HORRIFIC sunburn I have ever had. I was burned so badly that I couldn’t sit back against a couch or a chair, couldn’t lay. I could barely pick up my toddler in fear that she might touch my back and I would be forced to chuck her across the room (kidding!). So along with the physical pain came the emotional shame - I’ve been actively trying to take care of my body and there I go prancing along without sunscreen on my bare back. Doh!
I didn’t worry too much about it for the first few days - I figured it would fade away and the pain would go with it. Four days after the initial burn, I woke up to my back covered in mini blisters. So gross. Just so, so gross. Thank goodness for Dr. Google! Turns out, sun blisters are a sign of a second degree burn and increase my chances of developing melanoma.
My back is not peeling, nor is it wet. ALL of those tiny bumps are sun blisters - I discovered them when trying to put sunscreen on my back, which is why you’ll see the white splotch in the middle of my blister minefield. I abandoned ship on that sunscreen IMMEDIATELY!
After much panic-researching on natural remedies for sun blisters, I came upon an article stating that turmeric is a good spice for burns. It is a good spice for nearly EVERYTHING, actually. Will turmeric be my poor back’s Knight in Shining Armor and pave the way to healing? Or will I turn out looking like Big Bird with a nasty sunburn? Read on to see if I found turmeric to be a Clean Swap or Total Flop!
So What Exactly is Turmeric?
Give turmeric a whiff and (for most of us) the same thing will come to mind - the mouthwatering, run-to-your-favorite-indian-restaurant-right-this-minute picture of your favorite curry dish. Turmeric is, in fact, the main ingredient in curry, giving it that classic color, smell and taste. Turmeric comes from the Curcuma Longa plant - a member of the ginger family (another versatile medicinal plant, by the way). Turmeric contains the powerhouse compound curcumin - the compound responsible for most of turmeric’s healing properties.
What Are The Medicinal Benefits of Turmeric?
Turmeric is the Meryl Streep of the medicinal plant world and it has SO many benefits for the mind and the body. In this article, I’ll give you a high-level overview of what turmeric can do for your body.
Turmeric does it all - as a powerful anti-inflammatory, it can help ease chronic inflammation that leads to heart disease, Alzheimer’s, cancer, arthritis and other degenerative diseases. It works as an antioxidant superstar, stalling harmful free-radicals in the body that can exacerbate cancer cells and has even been touted as an anti-cancer - stopping cancer cells and tumors from replicating in the body. It has also been shown to decrease depression and anxiety, thanks to curcumin’s ability to increase the BDNF protein.
The Test
Luckily, I had the perfect test victim subject for this trial run - me! Me and my angry, aaaangry back.
The Necessities:
Medium-sized bowl
2 Tbs. turmeric powder (I used this organic turmeric powder from Target)
2 Tbs. water
Towel or sheet that you don’t mind possibly getting stained
A partner, depending on whether or not you can fully reach your sunburn
Latex gloves, only if you are really against having your hands tinted yellow for a few hours
A glass of wine and a good tv show *not needed but totally recommended*
The How-To:
Put two tablespoons of turmeric into the bowl.
Add two tablespoons of water and mix into a thick paste. If the mixture is too runny, add a touch more turmeric! You don’t want the paste to be so runny that it drips off of your burn!
Lay the towel/sheet on the floor somewhat near your shower. I didn’t think of the fact that my shower is all the way up my carpeted staircase. You better believe I looked like Gollum trying to climb those stairs without standing up fully in fear that the bright yellow turmeric would fall off of my back and stain my carpet! Whoopsies!
Oh-so-gently apply a thick layer of the turmeric paste onto your burn (or have your partner help you out with any hard-to-reach spots).
Let it sit on your burn for 15-20 minutes.
Hop into a cool shower and gently wash away the turmeric. I used a dove bar of soap to gently soap up the area.
** What do you get when you mix a red sunburn with yellow turmeric? ORANGE SKIN! This is my way of telling you that you will absolutely be a bit stained from the powerful color of the turmeric :) Don’t fret, though - it only lasts a day or two AND mixing colors is always fun, right?!
The Verdict - Was Turmeric a Clean Swap or Total Flop?!
What. a. game. changer. Two hours after I did my turmeric treatment, my back blisters were gone. GONE! My back had already moved into the next phase of the sunburn cycle - the peeling stage! I was floored and so excited that this simple, natural trick could save me from another day of panic-researching the dangers of 2nd degree burns. I ended up doing the treatment two more times, in hopes that the anti-inflammatory/antioxidant properties in the turmeric would help my skin regenerate faster/more nicely. Can’t wait to be the weird lady at the beach that’s telling every slightly red person about my miracle cure!