Best Spray, High-End: Solabiome Refreshing Jelly Mist Toner
This facial spray, another pick from Dr. Garshick, has a more complex formula than La Roche-Posay’s, which is great if you’re looking to go beyond a quick pick-me-up spritz. For one thing, it starts out as a gel in the bottle, but turns to mist when you actually spray it onto your skin. It’s also made with high-quality moisturizers and centella asiatica that can help reduce redness and inflammation, Dr. Garshick says.
- Key ingredients: Centella asiatica, glycerin
Best Body Wash: Dove Soothing Relief Body Wash
Lotions and gels might be the first products that come to mind when you’re looking for after-sun skin care, but don’t forget your body wash. “It is important to avoid being too harsh on the skin” while it’s healing, Dr. Garshick says. She recommends using a fragrance-free body cleanser that’s made for sensitive, easily irritated skin and won’t strip your skin of its natural oils and moisture (which your skin needs in order to heal). This option from Dove has a seal of acceptance from the NEA, uses no added fragrances, and contains colloidal oatmeal, which derms love for calming, hydrating, and protecting sensitive skin.
- Key ingredients: Colloidal oatmeal, glycerin
Best Splurge: RescueMD DNA Repair Complex
Dr. Garshick recommends this high-end serum for sunburns, irritation, and anytime your skin needs a little boost for healing and recovery (say, following a procedure). In addition to trusty aloe vera, it contains skin-strengthening peptides and restorative antioxidants. You can use it on your face and your body, and Dr. Garshick says you can apply it as often as twice a day if you want to address inflammation in your skin quickly. Since it’s a serum, it’s easy to layer on top of itself or with the rest of your skin care (Amazon reviewers say it absorbs in a snap).
- Key ingredients: Aloe vera, peptides, vitamin E, vitamin B5
More great options
You can never have too many soothing, cooling skin care products this time of year. So if you’re looking for even more after-sun options, check out these highly rated picks and stock up to your heart’s desire.
Burt’s Bees After Sun Lotion
This best-selling lotion uses coconut oil to provide heavy-duty hydration, so thirsty skin can feel better faster. “This stuff makes the burn go away overnight,” wrote one Amazon reviewer. “It is always a vacation essential.”
- Key ingredients: Aloe vera, coconut oil
Eucerin Advanced Hydration After Sun Lotion
Eucerin’s lotion is another top-seller, thanks to its extremely light consistency and gentle formula. Multiple Amazon reviewers noticed an immediate cooling sensation upon application, even when their skin felt hot from a burn.
- Key ingredients: Shea butter, vitamin E
Hawaiian Tropic After Sun Body Butter
TikTok caught wind of Hawaiian Tropic’s thick after-sun butter, and it’s been selling out intermittently ever since. If you manage to snag a jar, you’ll enjoy an incredibly rich texture loaded with intense, plant-derived moisturizers.