Spring is almost here!!! The days are already getting longer, the sun has been shining more, the birds are chirping and warmer days are starting to happen.
This means it’s time to start thinking about sunscreen again, although you’ve been wearing your SPF every day this winter, right?
First of all, if you’re packing up for that spring break trip & packing up last summer’s sunscreen, then you need to continue reading.
Last summer’s sunscreen has lost a LOT of it’s effectiveness and can result in a sunburn and that’s the last thing you want on your trip!
There are preservatives in sunscreen, however, being exposed to summer’s heat, direct sun and oxygen does break down the SPF and causes it to be less effective.
Because SPF’s are usually exposed to more direct sun & higher temps than the rest of our skin care products, it only has a shelf life of about 6 months.
I tell ALL my clients that they need to toss last year’s sunscreen & buy ALL brand new each spring & summer.
Personally, I toss my bottles in the fall so I don’t even question whether or not I should grab it in a pinch, because that always results in a sunburn.
Next, I want to remind you that SPF daily is a must and especially on those cooler spring days when we find ourselves standing in the sun warming ourselves up.
Those days I see a lot of sunburns happening because the cooler weather tricks us. We tell ourselves we are running outside for a few minutes. The kids end up running into friends, we end up spring cleaning the yard and next thing we know, it’s been 2 hours and we are still outside and our skin is unprotected.
Did you apply your SPF this morning?
You need to remember to re-apply that afternoon. Even though we are applying to our faces daily, sunscreen is only effective for 1-2 hours. After that, we have NO protection from the sun.
This is what I call accidental sun exposure, because we believe that we are protected from the sun’s harmful rays.
This happens a lot when we drive or run a few errands. We don’t even think about the sun hitting our skin or potentially causing skin damage.
Honestly, sunscreen use is just about being smart. We need to make it more of a habit and always keep a small bottle with us for those “just in case times”. I’d rather you be safe than sorry.
Why are sunburns so bad?
Sunburns results in inflammation of the skin. What happens when we burn is that our Epidermis becomes inflamed to protect the delicate Dermis layer where our collagen, elastin, blood vessels, lymph, receptors, oil & sweat glands lie.
Many times the sun’s harmful rays DO penetrate to the Dermis and THIS is where skin aging starts.
Even sun tans are the skin’s inflammatory response to the sun’s damaging rays. They may look good at the time, but there is major damage that results from that “sun-kissed glow”.
Our best defense for skin aging and skin cancer is SPF.
Please be sure to wear responsibly!
XO
-Samantha
P.S. To book an appointment with Samantha at Skin Deep or buy a copy of my book, please visit my website.
