I'm Irish, so I basically turn into a lobster each summer...
A New York City dermatologist says there are some items from your fridge that can treat your sunburn quickly. The pain you feel from a sunburn is due to surface scorching. That pain needs to be treated with cold. A cold compress both pulls heat away from the site of the burn and helps to ease painful inflammation by shrinking swollen cells. WOAH SCIENCE.
So what's the solution? Milk!! Crazy right...
The doc says, ’A milk compress can help calm inflamed skin as well, as proteins in the milk coat and soothe the skin.’
Stay away from whole or cream milk, though. The fat in those could trap heat.
All you need to do is pour some milk in a bowl, plop a wash cloth in, and refrigerate until the two are cold.
Once you've cooled the burn, seal the deal with a light moisturizer. The doc says: ’I advise applying a petroleum based moisturizer to form a protective seal over the skin's surface.’ Aloe and motrin can give some fast pain relief, but don't touch the lidocaine. Aloe vera has a natural cooling effect on sunburn, but breathes well and does not trap heat in in.
Forever stocking my fridge with skim milk now...