Numbing cream is one of those things that many people don’t realize they need until it’s too late. It’s an extremely valuable and underutilized tool that makes so many everyday discomforts a thing of the past.
It’s great to keep a jar of numbing cream in the house at all times. It’s surprisingly versatile and does wonders to combat a wide variety of uncomfortable sensations. Here’s why you should keep a jar in the medicine cabinet at all times. You’ll be surprised how often you find yourself reaching for it.
How Does Numbing Cream Work?
Your skin is full of nerves and receptors that constantly relay messages to your brain. Your brain uses these messages to interpret your environment and help you make decisions. When these nerves relay a pain signal, you experience discomfort. Your brain tells you to stop doing what you’re doing.
Numbing creams block your sodium channels, which are the travel route of these signals. Your nerves can’t send them as effectively, and as a result, many people experience a reduction in pain when they use numbing creams.
What Ingredients Make Skin Numb?
When people refer to numbing treatments or numbing creams, they’re usually referring to a topical or local anesthetic in the “-caine” family.
Lidocaine is the most common local anesthetic. Dentists use lidocaine shots to numb the mouth prior to filling a cavity or removing a tooth. People remain awake and alert for these procedures because lidocaine prevents them from feeling the discomfort they cause. Instead, people may feel light pressure similar to being poked firmly with a finger.
Prescription injectable lidocaine works much more dramatically than the topical lidocaine used in skin-numbing creams, but the principle is still the same.
Lidocaine significantly inhibits nerves and hinders their ability to relay the sensation of pain.
Are Skin Numbing Creams Safe?
Over-the-counter skin-numbing creams are only legally allowed to contain a small percentage of lidocaine. Typically, it’s enough lidocaine to work effectively but not enough to cause negative side effects.
These products are safe when used as directed. The packaging will give you instructions about how to apply the cream, where it can be applied, and how often it can be reapplied.
Using Numbing Cream Reduce the Sensation of Uncomfortable Procedures
Many people use numbing cream in anticipation of painful or uncomfortable events. Prepping the area with numbing cream reduces the amount of discomfort you may feel due to certain procedures or spa treatments.
Tattoos and Piercings
If you’re looking to get a tattoo or a piercing, pain can easily become a dissuading factor. While most people find the pain from these procedures to be tolerable, it’s hard to know how your tolerance will work until you have personal experience navigating the situation.
Applying numbing cream to the area prior to your appointment can ease your nerves and reduce the sensation in the area. A piercing is over in the blink of an eye, but a small, simple tattoo will take about an hour. During that time, numbing cream will take the edge off.
Laser and Aesthetic Treatments
Laser and aesthetic treatments often help people boost their confidence by increasing their satisfaction with the way they look. That confidence can sometimes come at a cost. Procedures like filler injections and laser tattoo removal can be excruciating.
Many professionals who deliver these treatments will often apply a topical numbing product to the area and give it a few minutes to work before they perform the treatment.
Making Hair Removal More Comfortable
People with sensitive skin prefer to prepare their legs, underarms, or eyebrows with numbing cream before a hair removal appointment. The stinging sensation associated with plucking, waxing, or laser hair removal is dulled by the cream. Numbing cream should not be used on areas of the body that would be covered by underwear.
Using Numbing Cream To Treat Uncomfortable Skin Sensations
If you have an unpleasant situation with your skin, numbing cream can be used to help change the sensations you’re experiencing.
Persistent Itching
Bug bites, irritation, rashes, and minor allergies can leave your skin itchy. Scratching your skin can make the situation worse. Scratching exacerbates irritation, and in the case of some rashes, it may trap contagions or plant oils beneath the skin and cause the rash to spread across your body or to the bodies of other people you may touch.
Numbing cream will turn the itching sensation down to a whisper, making it easier to ignore. Use an antihistamine like diphenhydramine (brand name Benadryl) to combat the symptoms causing the itchy sensation and apply numbing cream for immediate relief.
Sunburn or Minor Burns
Sunburn and minor burns can leave skin feeling raw, irritated, itchy, warm, throbbing, or otherwise painful. These sensations persist until the body has sufficiently healed a significant portion of the injury. In the meantime, you’ll need to keep the area comfortable.
Burns and burst blisters require adequate first aid. The area needs to be thoroughly cleaned before any other products can be applied. After first aid is delivered, numbing cream can be used to routinely dull the sensation of discomfort as it arises.
Using Numbing Cream To Treat Pain From the Surface of the Skin
Numbing cream is often used to help temporarily treat pain from the surface of the skin. Achy muscles and joints can cause a major life disruption. It’s hard to get a good night’s sleep or wash the dishes when your joint or muscle aches prevent you from comfortably moving around.
Since lidocaine cream allows you to target specific areas, you don’t need to rely on oral pain relievers that impact your whole body. You can experience numbing relief in only the places where you need it most.
How To Apply Numbing Cream
The best way to apply numbing cream is to massage it into the affected area. Massage promotes the absorption of the product while helping to reduce discomfort already present in the area.
If you’re getting a tattoo or a laser treatment, it’s best to apply an opaque layer of numbing cream to the area about an hour before your appointment. Cover it with plastic wrap to prevent it from transferring to clothing or other parts of the body.
Before the appointment, remove the plastic wrap and use a paper towel to wipe away the excess. The area may remain numb for up to several hours after the initial application.
Hempvana Can Numb Your Aches and Pains
Hempvana Ultra Strength Pain Relief Cream with Lidocaine is formulated with 4% lidocaine. Unlike similar numbing temporary pain relief creams, ours is completely odor-free. You won’t walk around drenched in that gross and unpleasant medicine smell that many temporary topical pain relievers leave behind.
You can use our cream for any of the above purposes. Pick up a two-pack to ensure your medicine cabinet is stocked without interruption. When you need relief, you’ll know where to find it.