This post is sponsored by my friends at Mountain Rose Herbs
Being a fair skinned redhead, I’ve been chronically susceptible to skin damage and sun burns my entire life. When I was a kid, I was the poor impressionable youngster covered head to toe in baggy peace frog t-shirts, huge hats and solid white sunscreen coated legs tagging awkwardly along behind my beautifully tall, blonde & tanned older sister at the beach. I feel like I get a sun burn just walking out to get my mail everyday. Forever the outdoor, tree-hugging nature devotee, I’ve worked in public gardens, organic summer camp veggie gardens, community herb gardens and spend most of my free time in the summer hiking and camping….so avoiding the sun is something I choose not to do. I do take plenty of precautions though, especially as I’ve gotten older and my skin has become more sensitive to the long term effects of sun exposure (hello, permanent shoulder freckles). I use high quality non-toxic sunscreens every single day, I cover up with SPF clothes when I’m outdoors for several hours at a time, and I use topical (usually herbal) sprays immediately after I’ve gotten too much sun. I’ve been making a soothing after sun skin spray with aloe, lavender and calendula for a couple of years now and it works like a charm to prevent sunburns from getting too bad, and expedites the healing process if I was careless enough to lose track of time under the sun.
Aloe + Lavender + Calendula = skin soothing magical combo
These three herbal ingredients are some of the absolute best for skin repair and cellular skin health preventatively and acutely and they’re always in my herbal arsenal. Aloe has been a topical skin remedy for me for as long as I can remember, and I’ve kept an aloe plant with me every year since my first college dorm room. The inside of aloe vera leaves are filled with a thick, latex-like gel substance that’s produced by the inner parenchymal cells in the center of the leaf. When this gel is diluted, it’s referred to as Aloe Vera Gel or sometimes Aloe Juice. Aloe is largely comprised of water, along with polysaccharides and glycoproteins – both of which have anti-inflammatory properties. The gel also contains lignin, sterols, Vitamin A & E and even B-12 AND salicylic acid – a pain relieving compound also found in white willow. With it’s wide array of soothing components, it’s no surprise aloe has been used for wound healing for generations with tremendous success. For skin specifically, aloe gel supports the repair of epidermal skin cells and is a lifesaver for sun burnt skin!
Lavender flowers contain between 1%-3% essential oils, and the compounds differ slightly between species. When used topically, lavender has a mild pain relieving (analgesic) effect and is also anti-inflammatory while being energetically cooling to help combat heat related issues (like sunburns!). I prefer using Lavender angustifolia essential oil in my skin spray for all of these herbal actions PLUS it smells incredibly good!
Finally, calendula flowers make up the rest of this skin soothing trio. Calendula carries anti-inflammatory power while also contributing to wound healing and skin repair after damage (thought to be be due to the intense metabolism of glycoproteins during tissue regeneration). Calendula flowers have traditionally been used for topical healing and soothing burns, and from my personal experience it’s remarkable at helping soothe sunburns and over-heated skin. You can also use calendula flowers in my Calendula Infused Apricot Oil recipe and accompanying Classic Calendula Salve recipe.
Side note – I use this exact same skin spray on insect bites to help with the inflammation and redness, itchiness and pain and yep – works well on those too.
I use all three of these herbs in my skin soothing spray and keep a bottle in the refrigerator almost all summer long (because keeping it cold feels SO good on sun kissed skin). This simple recipe is incredibly easy to make and, best of all, it’s affordable and effective. I use a ton of this stuff and drench my skin with this spray generously – even when I’m not sun burnt – just to cool and soothe my skin when I’m overheated in the southern summer heat. A spritz on the face is pure heaven on those 90+ degree days.
