I went to Antigua back in April for my sister’s birthday, and after about 20 minutes on the resort, I knew I was dealing with a different level of sun. After a half-hour outside (with SPF on, of course), I was already looking a little tan. I’d previously learned my lesson with sun exposure when I got my first sunburn during a trip to Mexico almost a decade ago. Since then, I’ve traveled with lots of SPF and post-SPF skin care to soothe my skin and support repair. This trip, I packed the Tower28 Rescue Spray to calm any irritation, as well as a product I’d just received in a mailer — the Aunu Manuka Salve. The main ingredient in it is manuka honey, an ingredient I’m very familiar with. I have hidradenitis suppurativa, an inflammatory condition where I get large cysts. When those drain, I often use a sterile manuka-honey ointment for wound care, which helps to keep the area bacteria free and also speeds up healing. I was already a fan of the ingredient more generally, but I wanted to see how it held up over a week. It ended up being the star product of the trip.
My tripmates didn’t prepare as thoroughly. By the end of day one, despite applying and reapplying sunscreen, a few people were sunburnt. I offered up the salve at the end of the night, and the next morning, everyone reported their skin felt calmer and less irritated. The salve is designed to soothe compromised and itchy skin, and I would classify sunburnt skin as both. I tested it on myself after I got my own sunburn a few days in (no matter how much sunscreen you apply, chilling in direct sunlight mid-afternoon isn’t a good idea) and was pleasantly surprised how quickly my skin went from feeling sting-y to normal in just an hour or two.
