DIY Sunburn Relief Gel

 You might remember from my last post that I went on a spontaneous trip to the beach a few days ago and I got sunburned. The first thing I did when I arrived at the beach was apply sunscreen but apparently not enough because I still got burned, even though it was honestly not thaaat bad. When I got back home I headed straight to the store to buy aloe to soothe my skin. Here's how to make a simple aloe gel for sunburned skin.

You will need:
- large aloe leaf
- really strong green tea (optional)
- bottle to store gel in
- vitamin e capsule (optional - helps preserve the gel a little longer)

 What to do:
1. Cut aloe leaf in half and scrape gel out with a spoon. You will need about 1 cup of gel.
2. Pour aloe gel into blender along with 1/4 cup of strong green tea, and 1 vitamin e capsule and blend well. The green tea is optional but I like adding it because it makes the gel a little more runny and has anti-inflammatory properties. If you don't want to add in the green tea you can always drink it instead because staying hydrated is one of the most important things to help heal dry sunburned skin.
3. Pour it into a bottle and keep it in the fridge. The cool aloe gel will feel really good on hot inflamed skin. I think this will keep in the fridge for about a week or two but I like to use it up quickly so it doesn't go to waste. You can use leftovers to moisturize other parts of your body or use it as shave gel.

Thanks to this lovely gel my red, painful sunburn has turned into the nice tan it should have been all along.
I ♥ aloe!