Does Aloe Really Treat a Sunburn?

It's summer time, so you might be wishing for the sweet sweet relief of aloe vera on your sunburned skin, but does the slimy gel actually do anything?

Hosted by: Olivia Gordon

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[MT-ydyc]

I'll save you 3 and a half minutes. The answer is: possibly.

[camgood]

There's also the fact that it's just naturally cool, slimy goo, which closely adheres to the skin while drawing heat away from it and moisturizing it.

[dutchik]

I dont know.

But it sure is cooling.

[luisumana]

I'd like to know how someone can choose to step on a hot George Forman grill, intentionally or otherwise, for science.

[indigodragon]

I assumed it just reduces inflammation. I use it on my face when I get breakouts and it dries out the pimples, reduces redness, and keeps my face hydrated. No special treatments needed.

[FerintoshFarmsPhotography]

I'd vote it's pain relieving just because it's cooling and helps swelling go down.

[karendurant]

As someone who made the terrible mistake of falling asleep in the hot hot sun and had horrible sunburns I can say yes it does. Saved my life for the week after. I didn't use a gel or cream I got it straight from the plant.

[clurdelune]

“Mucus innards” wasn’t something I was expecting to hear today.

[cup_check_official]

(After being outside for 2 hours)

Daughter: Daddy, why didn't I get a sunburn?

Me: You can't, honey.

Daughter: Really?

Me: You can only get a daughterburn

[christancoding]

Aloe vera also helped me tremendously with my acne, now my skin is smooth.

[muhammaddanyal]

I can say honestly that Aloe Vera is amazing. I’ve had eczema for years and it comes and goes and I visited Pakistan 4 years ago where aloe grows naturally. My relatives grew aloe for themselves and gave me some and my skin healed faster and the rough texture decreased. Aloe Vera is an amazing plant

[PaleGhost]

If it doesn't then I put up with a lot of time being uncomfortable for nothing.
PalePeopleProblems

[alicattor]

I feel like one possibility is also that aloe simply is a natural substance that's good at rehydrating the skin. Back when moisturizers weren't as common, it makes sense that using aloe would help speed up burn healing. Now that we have human-made moisturizers though the question would be if it does any better than those.

[GigaLigma]

Even if it doesn't actually have anything in it that reduces pain, just the feel of aloe on sunburned skin can be soothing to some people. It's generally either room temperature or cool, which feels nice on a burn, and it covers your skin so the open air doesn't feel as bad. Or at least, that's how it feels in my experience. I don't really like the unpleasant feeling of something moist and sticky on my skin but it's better than nothing.

[thefloatingfloatzel]

"What's so hard to understand pam, I stepped on my George foreman grill"

[Elfos]

I'm fairly confident it is not just a placebo. Just last week, I got a sunburn, which a 2nd prolonged stay outdoors worsened. I rode my bike over to my parents house to get some aloe, but the only way I had to transport the aloe back home was with my backpack. my sunburn was largely localized to my shoulders, thus it really hurt when the backpack straps made contact with it. I could feel heat radiating from the burn even though I'd been back indoors for hours. One application of aloe, backpack straps didn't hurt nearly as much when I put backpack back on, and my shoulder was no longer radiating heat. Placebo would not have that kind of effect on pain-upon-contact. One time, I thought my ribs were broken when it turns out it was just a muscle cramp in rib region, and it didn't hurt when the doctors prodded it to see if it was broken. Technically, that's nocebo, but whatever- same principle. The cause of the pain was definitely reduced after the aloe application.

[sebastianelytron]

I mean you can try your luck, but it's aloe probability.

[FreyasArts]

We grow Aloe in our front yard 😁 My mother also uses it to treat the burns when we swam into jellyfish.

[UtauReni]

I started using aloe vera gel as a face moisturizer after my shower each day and have had great success with it! ^^

[Master_Therion]

Do Australians get a lot of sunburns? I ask because they're always saying, "Aloe, mate."