It’s a very common phenomena where you’re flat ironing your hair into a gorgeous style and it accidentally snags your skin, resulting in a painful burn! How traumatic is that? What we offer you now is the immediate & most effective solutions that you can perform right at your home!
Our article is set to cover every issue regarding flat iron burn and the solutions that follow. We have attempted to answer these two questions elaborately which encompass our entire concern in this matter-
- How to heal a flat iron burn fast? and,
- What to put on a burn from flat iron?
Finding the answers to these would uncover all the knowledge required for you to treat your flat iron burn swiftly. This all-inclusive guideline tells you exactly how to proceed in certain cases and protect your beautiful skin from further damage!
Contents
Types Of Burn
There are three types of burns in general that are classified based on the severity and impact on the flesh & skin. Among which, only the first two can occur during a flat iron burn incident as the third one requires prolonged exposure to a higher degree of heat which the flat iron isn’t able to generate. The first two types of burns are:
First Degree Burn: This happens only to the outer layer of your skin, which is called epidermis. In such cases, the outer layer shows redness, burn mark but no sign of blister is present there. It resembles something like a sunburn, and a short contact between a hot flat iron and your skin can result in such a burn.
Second Degree Burn: This kind of burns go beyond the epidermis and affects the layer right underneath to a certain extent. Other than redness and burn marks, you can end up having blisters and swollen skin, along with pain and discomfort. If your flat iron remains in full contact with your skin for a prolonged duration of time, such a degree of burn could occur.
You can avoid overheating your flat iron if you understand the proper timing of each temperature setting to generate the best result without getting yourself burned.
Methods To Mitigate Flat Iron Burn
There are some instant relief to flat iron induced burns that everyone should be aware of. Applying such methods immediately can not only spare you pain, but also remove the risk of long term burn marks and ensure better health for your skin.
Cool It Down
This is the first and foremost duty you should fulfill after getting an accidental burn from your flat iron, or even other sources of burning. You can cool it down in multiple ways, one of the most common methods would be to place your burnt spot under running water of your faucet. If you think the area is unreachable, you shouldn’t hesitate to go under the shower.
Apart from running water, you can also apply ice cubes that should generate similar results. You can press the ice directly to the burnt spot, or grab a clean rug and wrap the cube inside it. Then hold the rug firmly against your area of concern for at least 10 minutes before letting go of it. It should serve as the primary treatment for any minor burns.
Apply NSAID
A topical NSAID is an ointment that can be applied to your flat iron burn area. Elements like Ibuprofen help with the inflammation and burning sensation which can give you instant relief from the discomfort.
This should be your second in the list right after cooling off the spot. Applying such non-steroid ointments leaves behind no side effects and it even helps you recover your original skin texture quicker than usual. Thus, it’s important that you react quickly and have such ointments at your arm’s reach.
Put Moisturizing Lotion
Applying a moisturizing lotion can help with your pain and stop the burned area from damaging your skin cells further. Any moisturizing lotion without a strong chemical base can do the trick for you, and it’s a handy little escape from your flat iron burn’s agony.
Such lotions’ thickness prevents any germ from getting into contact with the area and helps you cool down the spot momentarily.
Apply Steroid Ointment
Steroid ointments are however more advanced and should be applied after assessing the situation of the burn. For instance, it’s alright to put on steroids if you see the skin hasn’t blasted open from the burn.
But if you see your skin bleeding or the skin is entirely burnt away revealing your flesh, it’s not the ideal situation to go for home-made treatments. You should rush to the emergency as soon as possible right after cooling down your burn area under running water.
Aloe Vera Treatment
Aloe vera is one of the most natural remedies in such a situation. Not only aloe vera has healing properties, it can cool down your skin too. You’ll be left shocked to see the effects of applying aloe vera to your flat iron burn.
Simply break apart or chop down your aloe vera leaf and put the chopped open section over your burn area so that the gel gets to spread over there. If you don’t have the plant, tubed aloe vera gel can be used in similar ways to help you get rid of the pain and inflammation immediately!
Put Bandage
You can always cover up your burn spot to prevent any sort of exposure by putting on a bandage. You must first cool down your wound as the consequence of your flat iron burn and mop it dry. Then, put a clean bandage on to keep it out of harm’s way.
Such cases occur when we don’t specifically know how to operate a flat iron, because when you go through an expert guide, you’ll be surprised to learn new tips and tricks that could have easily avoided such burn incidents!
Apply Vaseline
To make sure that your flat iron burn doesn’t intrude your skin beneath the surface level, you must cool it down soon, and an alternative to water or ice is to apply vaseline. Laying over a thick layer of vaseline can significantly reduce the inflammation and ease the pain.
Since vaseline is based off of wax, it’s a solid protection from germs that could potentially infect your burn spot and cause an infection. It’s a handy little trick that can spare you a lot of trouble at the comfort of your home!
Toothpaste Therapy
If you can’t find anything at your home from our list above right after nicking your hot flat iron to your skin, you can always settle for some toothpaste. Sounds scary? It’s anything but that! Toothpaste has the natural cooling ingredients which will stop the burning process immediately.
Other than helping out with the inflammation, you won’t feel the pain of burn as your burn spot will remain as cool as ice. On top of that, toothpaste is available in every household, so you won’t have to search for other things if you’ve forgotten where you placed them!
Long Term Treatment
The long term treatments also include steroid or NSAID ointments on a regular basis. Other than that, there are certain steps you can follow to help with your flat iron burn healing process in the fastest possible time and without leaving behind a mark.
Apply Petroleum Jelly
You can frequently apply petroleum jelly. These was-based jellies have the ingredients to help with your burn spot’s healing, and minor burns can be easily treated with regular application up to a couple of weeks. By the end, you’ll find no trace of burn anywhere on your skin!
See A Doctor
If you feel your burn is quite severe or you don’t feel like going through our methods, you should definitely see a doctor. It can be immediately after the incident, or it can be after a few hours when you’ve mitigated the situation with any of the methods mentioned above. But in serious cases, we recommend that you visit a doctor as fast as you can, otherwise it can prove to be very costly!
Don’t Touch
You should never touch or pick on your burned spot. It tends to infect the area from your finger’s germs or slow down the healing process. Keeping your hands off of it would be your best practice during the time being.
Wear Sunscreen
The burnt area of your skin remains highly sensitive until it’s fully healed. So the sun becomes your next big enemy and you should keep it covered up as much as you can. And if you’re unable to do that, make sure to apply a thick layer of sunscreen whenever you head out.
Avoid Make-Up
Again, your skin remains very sensitive during the healing phase of flat iron burn. It might be challenging, but you should still avoid wearing make-up over that particular area until it’s healed to a certain level, for the sake of your skin’s health.
Thoughts
Now that we’ve reached the concluding mark of this article, you now have generated enough ideas to help with your flat iron burn. From this point onward, you won’t have to google for methods that can help you out, rather you can remember what we’ve told you and proceed accordingly to witness the best results.
However, we recommend you to prevent flat iron burns completely after getting burnt. Often it’s the case that your flat iron is malfunctioning and causing the abrupt heating up resulting in such painful consequences. You should replace your flat iron frequently to avoid such issues, and knowing how long they last would be of great assistance in this regard.
As per the burning issue, never hesitate to see a doctor if you feel it’s necessary. Precaution is always protection which you’ll find with anything else.
