As happens periodically I stop paying attention and end up sunburned. I forget that in particular my chest, shoulders and back rarely see the sun and therefore paint themselves lobster red after a random time period of exposure.

On this occasion the sunburn, (mild by some experiences I’ve had) was accompanied 24 hours later by an itchiness that steadily increased in intensity. Not only was the itch getting worse, but it was also becoming more painful and the worst thing was I couldn’t scratch it.

It began at roughly 10pm. By 12pm I couldn’t sleep and by 1am I was working through a list of soothing aids. I had a cool shower which eased it a little, applied after sun and went back to bed. I eventually got off to sleep at 5am.

I was up at 7.30am with the kids. At first the itch wasn’t that bad, then it was like slowly remembering a nightmare. The itch got worse, and worse, and worse. By 9am I didn’t know what to do with myself. At 10am I was back in the shower set to cold and stayed there for half an hour. After carefully dabbing dry and feeling much better I applied after sun. This time it felt like I’d shown a red rag to a bull, more accurately it felt like I’d rubbed itching powder into my skin! I went straight back in the shower for another half hour, came out and started googling remedies. Everyone suggested after sun, but that was a non-starter. So I tried Sudacrem on 50% and sunflower oil on the other 50% of burned surface area.

Why sunflower oil? It’s a remedy for physical burn from hot items or flame. I’ve found it to be significantly more effective than submersing or rinsing in cold water.

After an hour I still felt miserable, though the Sunflower oil side was slightly better and would allow me to touch the skin.

So, back into the shower to wash off and ease itching. After that I applied sunflower oil and went to bed. I was so exhausted by this point I could sleep (no I didn’t leave my kids unattended).

A couple of hours later I could cope with the itching as it had come down to a bearable state. The next day I was back to normal. I could apply after sun without issue and no manic itching!

I’d never had itchiness before with sunburn and certainly nothing like this. Apparently hell’s itch effects between 5 and 10% of people after sunburn. I got unlucky this time.

The moral of the story, don’t go out in the sun without applying sun block!