And now for another lesson from the Book of Know…
After decades of climbing the mountain of wisdom, searching for the self-care secrets that the industry has yet to discover or disclose, the Golden Bro finally unearthed the ancient and cutting-edge knowledge of a better way to do self-care and fitness. He transcribed them here…in the Book of Know…
Today’s lesson is here just in time for summer!
Did you know you can treat sunburns with shaving cream?! Well, you can! Shaving cream isn’t just for sleepover pranks and making the chiseled chests of meatheads shiny on muscle beach anymore! Well…actually…the meatheads on muscle beach might want to know this trick when their shiny chests get too much sun.
We all know about aloe vera and other after-sun lotions that can help with sunburns, but let’s face it, not every sunburn is planned well in advance and sometimes you wake up after an accidental nap in the backyard cooked to a solid medium-well and you might not have aloe vera lotion on hand!
Well, if you have some shaving cream stashed away somewhere in the house, you’re in luck!
I know what you’re thinking. I’m about to tell you that you can use a razor to shave off sun damaged skin. Although that is something that you can do, it will not help your situation. There’s a dang good chance that shaving off your skin will make your sunburn hurt more. I am going on the record right now, to say, DO NOT shave off your skin.
Let’s look at why a sunburn feels so bad in the first place. When your skin is burned it interferes with the way your skin releases sweat. No sweat means no relief from the hot skin. Aloe isn’t what makes your skin feel cooled off, it’s sweat that makes you feel cool. Aloe just helps soothe the burned area so you can sweat better.
Things like aloe and white flower oil have been used for millennia in Eastern med to treat acute inflammation and itchy, allergic reactions on the skin. So, if you’re one of the handfuls of herbalists that exist in the US feel free to mix together a compound of aloe and white flower oil to treat that sunburn. But if you’re Just Jimmy waking up on your back patio in Pilsen with a PBR and hard seltzer hangover and 6 hours of direct sunlight damage on your naked torso, you might not have direct access to white flower oil. That’s OK Jimmy, run to the bathroom and grab some shaving cream and rub it directly on your skin!
Think about it, the entire purpose of shaving cream is to lubricate your skin so you can tear hair out of it, while immediately treating and soothing the acute inflammation caused by the razor so you can avoid razor burn. It oftentimes contains many ingredients like camphor, chamomile, aloe, and other substances that help with inflammation of the skin.
Shaving cream would be more aptly named if we called it acute inflammation treatment cream because that’s what it does…treats acute skin inflammation!
Shaving cream works to soothe a sunburn just as fast as aloe!
If you don’t do so well with some things that might be in your shaving cream like lavender or whatever the heck is in that particular brand of cream in your cupboard…then don’t use it. Up to you, hotshot. Pick a different cream.
Take this secret bit of knowledge with you into the summer and impress all of your friends on that camping trip when you straight up use items from your shaving kit to MacGuyver their skin into soothing recovery and get them sweating again.
For more tips from the Book of Know check out the 12 Levels of the Golden Bro in our FREE Recovering Bro app!