How come sunburns show worse after a shower or bath?
Asked by
Chikipi (
1843
)
January 18th, 2010
from iPhone
I have noticed that when I spend a day out in the sun going in and out of the water the sunburn doesn’t seem that bad until after I shower. I look tan with a slight pink, but when I come out of the shower I look like a ripe tomato. I am lucky because the burn turns to a tan within a day or two. My friends notice the same thing on themselves as well. I can’t find any scientific information that explains the reasoning behind this. Does anyone on fluther have any ideas or know the actual reason why this happens?
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12 Answers
I think the sunburn does not change after a shower. i do think your eyes have adjusted to the inside light and your sunburn now appears more prevelant than before. just a guess.
I’m just pulling this out my ass. Maybe it is the removal of a few layers of dead skin cells.
Actually your skin gets better(some refreshment after punishing sunburns). it’s just the way your skin manipulate your skin’s pigmentation. When your skin release the heat/sunburn effect from you skin it actually cause abnormality in your skin’s color.
You know when you get in the shower and it’s really hot and your feet are red? Well that adds on to the sunburn to make it darker
@john65pennington
I don’t know why that never crossed my mind. The eyes are a bit weird after coming in from being out in the sun.
@johnpowell dead skin cells may also be another good reason
Maybe the water body wash, warm water and scrubbing irritate the skin when you take the shower. My skin turns red even when I don’t have a sunburn after a shower.
Nobody’s gotten this right yet. Sunburns “develop” over time. Between the time that you got into the shower and the time you got out, more of the damage is visible. Your sunburn damage will be most obvious and visible the day after you got burned.
Think of it like a polaroid picture. :)
Maybe cause your washing off all the skin oils?
@avvooooooo that’s an interesting way of looking at it too…the sunburn wasn’t developed fully-
It’s because with a sunburn your skin is inflamed. When you get into a warm shower or bath, your skin blood vessels vasodilate, causing the already red inflamed skin to be redder.
It depends on how bad the burn is meaing how deep you got burned. Think 1st degree versus 2nd degree burns.
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