Why and who should use sunscreen do you ask?
The short answer is everyone! Men, women and children over 6 months of age should use sunscreen every day. This includes people who tan easily and those who don’t — remember, your skin is damaged by sun exposure over your lifetime, whether or not you burn.
As a child, being a strawberry blonde with freckled skin, growing up in South Africa, this was always an issue for me. I had to always have a lot of sunscreen applied to my skin, wear a sun hat and tee shirt when I went swimming to protect me from the sunrays blistering my skin. I was always envious of the kids and adults who did not have to have this protection and who went a lovely brown colour. It was later in my teens, did I discover what damage was caused to them from the harmful ultraviolet rays by not using the correct sun protection when outdoors in the sun. Friends and acquaintances have been treated for skin cancers, which as we know are fatal. It is not necessarily what you see on the surface of the skin, but these cancers grow deep down into the skin’s tissue.
The best solution is to use a sunscreen every day!
You ask……Is it OK to use sunscreen on your face Everyday? Absolutely!!!……
By wearing sunscreen daily saves you from years of visible damage later on. Remember, sunscreen protects every skin type. If you have a darker complexion, the melanin in your skin offers some protection from sunburns, but you still need to protect your skin from those harmful ultraviolet rays. Don’t forget to keep re-applying the sunscreen every 2 hours when swimming or sweating and try and limit the time you are in the sun between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM. This is when the sun’s rays are the most intense. Practice the shadow rule: if your shadow is shorter than you, the sun’s rays are at their strongest, and you should find shade.
As you know there are so many wonderful moisturisers on the market, but if you are not able to afford any of these, purchase a quality broad-spectrum sunscreen that protects against both UVA and UVB radiation. Make sure it is water resistant and has a SPF of 30 or higher. Other sunscreens may help keep you from getting sunburned, but they won’t protect against skin cancer……….you will not regret doing so.
Remember you only have one skin……..so please take care and look after it!! x