Posts with tag aloe vera

San Francisco summers are freezing cold. We usually spend June and July so bundled up that the sun doesn't have a chance to burn any body parts. We must admit: sunscreen is often an afterthought.

Last week we sat through a two hour graduation ceremony in Boston during a heatwave and received a fierce reminder of it's importance: glowing, red, sunburned arms.

This was a bad burn, and Lubriderm wasn't going to cut it, so we headed to Walgreens for aloe vera gel. Luckily we found something even better: Burt's Bees Soothingly Sensitive Aloe & Buttermilk Lotion.

While others may medicate themselves with aloe gel for sunburns after they come back inside, I use aloe gel before I even step foot out the door...as a facial moisturizer.

It sounds weird to use the green goopy stuff as a moisturizer, but natural aloe has moisturizing properties, which is why people use it for after-sun care to keep burnt skin moisturized. Something about the gel is totally refreshing, and I am not sure why, but it supposedly keeps your skin free of blemishes unless you are a stress-ball like myself, in which case nothing will help those wicked little stress outbreaks. My suspicion is that whatever natural component in aloe relieves inflammation on burns also works on blemishes, but whatever it is, it definitely work for me.

i like banana boat because "banana boat" is fun to say, but pretty much any aloe gel will work.