Did you do any of these things in your teens and twenties?
- Use baby oil instead of sunscreen?
- Cover a book with aluminum foil so that the sun would reflect even more intensely on your face?
- Use tanning beds?
- Burn so badly that your skin peeled?
I did every one of these things! Oh how I wish I could go back and tell the younger me not to do these things for the sake of older me. Nothing is more aging than dried out, leathery skin. This is why I have become obsessed with healing sun damaged skin naturally.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO REVERSE SUN DAMAGED SKIN?
If you research how to reverse sun damaged skin, you will see that topical creams with ingredients such as retinols/retinoids, niacinimide, hydroquinone, and vitamin C are recommended.
You will also see a lot of acids endorsed either in the form of creams or chemical peels such as: azelaic acid, alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs), kojic acid, and glycolic acid.
Finally, you will see skin resurfacing treatments praised like microdermabrasion and fractional laser treatments.
I have tried many of these ingredients and treatments for healing sun damaged skin without success. Some made my skin worse. For example, creams with Retin A and chemical peels made my skin dry, red, and very photosensitive (I got a lot more brown/age spots). Others didn’t seem to make any change at all like topical vitamin C and Niacinimide cream. I really liked microdermabrasion when I was younger, but now I think the suction and pulling would be too rough for my skin.
When I dug deeper to see why these are recommended for healing sun damaged skin, I found it’s because they all increase collagen and/or remove dead skin cells and create new healthy cells faster.
LED Red Light Therapy
I decided to look for a better way, a way for healing sun damaged skin naturally. What I discovered is red LED light therapy. The science is not conclusive about whether LED light heals sun damaged skin. But there is evidence that it increases cell turn over and collagen.
FUN FACTS – according to Healthline:
- NASA originally developed LED light therapy for plant growing experiments on shuttle missions and later found it to be effective for treating wounds.
- In the 1990s, Navy SEALs began using LED light therapy to help heal wounds faster and to help regenerate damaged muscle tissues.
If LED light therapy is good enough for astronauts and Navy Seals, then it is good enough for me! If it can heal wounds more quickly, it makes sense to me that it can heal my sun damaged skin.
Pros and Cons of My At Home Red LED Light Therapy Device
I use a LED home device that I bought on Amazon. If you research LED home devices, some say that they are not strong enough to have any results. I am sure if I could afford to get weekly in office LED light treatments they would be more effective. But I get good results from my home device and it was the cost of one in office treatment.
The pros of this device are:
- You can do your whole face at once where as some hand held LED devices require a lot more time because you have to move it around your face.
- It has evened my skin tone. I have fewer brown spots.
- My face feels more taught and lifted.
- The price is the cost of one in office treatment.
- It’s not too time consuming – it takes 20 minutes 3 times a week.
- It is not just a red LED device. It has many other LED light colors that kill acne, shrink pores, reduce redness, increase lymph metabolism, and tighten skin.
The cons of this device are:
- It is heavy and presses hard on my face. The brackets that come with it don’t work. But I have found a way to prop it up with kitchen towels rolled up on each side of my head to take some of the weight off and prevent it from making lines on my face.
- I wish it came with the neck attachment that some of the other masks have. But you can put it on your neck too. It just takes more time.
- I thought I was going to be able to put this mask on and watch tv or read, but you can’t because you have to protect your eyes with a blindfold (included). So it’s hard to sit around with nothing to do. I have started listening to podcasts while I do it.
Frankincense
According to Healthline, “Researchers in a 2003 study found that frankincense oil may help reduce or prevent the appearance of sunspots.” In addition, this study that says Frankincense is effective for wound healing. There is also some evidence that Frankincense may generate new skin cells according to Medical New Today. So it is easy to see why Frankincense may be an effective for healing sun damaged skin naturally.
I have found that applying Frankincense directly from the bottle to my sun spots has been made them fade or in some cases, completely go away. It will not happen overnight, but I typically see results in 3-6 months of consistent daily topical application. Make sure to check the usage instructions of the Frankincense you choose to see whether is can be applied straight from the bottle or whether it has to be diluted with a carrier oil.
PREVENTING FUTURE SUN DAMAGE
When you work so hard to reverse the sun damage you did to your skin when you were younger, you really don’t want any new damage to occur! Follow the obvious advice – get checked by a dermatologist once a year, stay out of the sun as much as possible, wear a hat, and use healthy sunscreen any time you’re in the sun. But beyond that, I have a few other tricks up my sleeve for preventing sun damage to my skin.
Vitamin C
I did not see results from any of the topical vitamin C creams I used. However, I am a big believer in internal vitamin C for healing sun damaged skin. Vitamin C protects skin cells from damaging free radicals caused by UV exposure. It also inhibits melanin production in the skin, which helps to lighten brown spots. And it’s a co-factor in the enzymes that produce collagen.
I have tried numerous types of internal vitamin C and have learned of the importance of getting the right formulation because some are absorbed and utilized better than others. The vitamin C that has produced the best results for me is LivOn Lipo-Spheric Vitamin C. It is a liposomal vitamin C.
Since taking the LivOn Lipo-Spheric Vitamin C, I feel that my skin has less discoloration, it’s thicker, and I have fewer fine lines and wrinkles. When I first started the product, I was taking 2 packets per day (1 in the morning and 1 at night) and my skin was radiant! Now I am only using one per day (due to cost) and my skin is not quite as radiant. š
By the way, some people on Amazon say that the LivOn Vitamin C is great when used topically on your face. I have not tried this yet. But let me know if you have.
Why is a liposomal form of vitamin C important?
It is better absorbed (utilized) by your body than standard forms of vitamin C. Most forms of vitamin C are eaten up by your digestive juices. But liposomal vitamin C has that protective layer of phospholipids that help it bypass your digestive system more quickly. Liposomal vitamin C is able to make it to your small intestine and then to your bloodstream, and finally to your body’s cells for use.
Diet Rich in Antioxidants
Antioxidant-rich foods fight free radical and UV damage. Some of the top antioxidants for your skin are:
- Lycopene – found in cooked tomatoes, watermelon, papaya, mangos, red cabbage, and grapefruit, asparagus, and red peppers.
- Beta carotene – found in spinach, cantaloupe, sweet potatoe, orange/yellow peppers, squash, and apricots.
- Omega-3 – found in nuts, seeds, salmon, chia, anchovies, sardines, spinach, and winter squash.
- Catechin EGCG – predominantly found in green tea.
Try to “eat the rainbow” every day. If you eat something red, orange, yellow, purple, and green every day you will be getting a good balance of the antioxidants and feeding your skin what it needs to be healthy at the same time.
Astaxanthin – Internal Sunscreen?
According to a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study, astaxanthin was protective against UV-induced skin deterioration.
You can get astaxanthin from eating salmon, krout, Krill, and Shrimp. But if you don’t eat those foods regularly, consider a supplement if your doctor approves. My daughter and I both start taking a astaxanthin supplement 2 months before summer starts. It needs time to build up in your system. Once the strong summer sun ends, we stop the supplement and just rely on the astaxanthin we get from our food.
One final note – Astaxanthin is not a substitute for sunscreen but it makes a good additional layer of protection. I talk a lot more about how and why astaxanthin protects your skin from the sun in my post about internal sunscreens.
Collagen
The UVA and UVB rays of the sun degrade collagen. Therefore, to prevent future sun damage to skin, you could take a collagen supplement. For much more information about the other anti aging benefits of collagen, check out this post.
Use Self-Tanner
Since I am trying to stay out of the sun as much as possible, I now use a self tanning cream. But I had to try a lot of them until I could find one that didn’t contain toxic ingredients, make me look orange and/or smell super bad. I apply self tanner to my face and body once a week after a shower and it gives me the perfect amount of color. It has anti aging ingredients such as: aloe, coconut oil, jojoba oil, rosemary leaf oil, and grape seed oil so it doesn’t dry out my skin like others I tried.
If the one I’m recommending isn’t right for you, there are other sunless tanning creams recommended as safe (nontoxic) by the Envirnomental Working Group (EWG).
What To Do If You Accidentally Get Sun Burned
Here are my go to remedies:
- Combine 10 drops each of lavender, lemon, and peppermint essential oils in a 10ml glass roller bottle. Fill the rest of the bottle with fractionated coconut oil. Apply to the burned area. It takes the redness and sting out pretty quickly. FYI – this is also good if you are burned by your stove.
- Most aloe that you get from the store is packed with fillers and toxins. But this aloe is so soothing for sunburns and is healthy for your skin at the same time. It also increases collagen.
- Some of the best homeopathic remedies for burns are: Urtica Urens,Ā CantharisĀ andĀ Causticum in 30C potency. What worked for me was putting 5 pellets of each of these in a glass of water and letting them dissolve. Then, I would take a sip of the water every 5 minutes. I kept repeating this until the burn felt better. If you are taking any homeopathic remedy, avoid food, drink, and even toothpaste 15 minutes before and after the remedy or it could stop the remedy from working. It is fine to drink water with homeopathy.
- Add 10 drops of German Chamomile essential oil to 10ml of Rosehip oil. This takes away redness and repairs damage from the sun.
Any time I have done these things for my daughter, her sunburn has healed overnight. She wakes up in the morning and her skin is no longer red, tight, or sore.
Happy Summer!
Note: For compliance reasons, I am not able to tell you on this blog which essential oil products I use or link you to them so that you can read about them for yourself. But if you want more information, please comment on this post and I am happy to tell you more about the oils I use and why.
No information on this site should be used to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any disease or condition. Please consult a qualified health care professional for medical advice.