The calendar says spring, which of course means summer is only a few weeks away. Although I use sunscreen every single day of the year, I know a lot of you out there think it is only something to apply when you break out that bikini for the season.
Au contraire!
I know you have heard it a million times, but seriously you must wear sunscreen 365 days a year, especially if you live in Colorado. A client recently told me she had a friend visiting from out of town who said, “I love that obesity is nearly nonexistent in this state, but what’s up with everyone’s skin looking like leather?” I am not making this up!
Let me tell you another true story. When I was in my late 20’s I thought it would be totally cool to hike in Nepal to the top of Gokyo Ri, which sits at approximately 16,000 feet, sans hat and sunscreen. All was great until I got home and surprise surprise, despite numerous long, hot showers the Pippy Longstockings’ freckles decorating my face didn’t wash off. Luckily I had a sister in the skin care field and she started me on a series of Intense Pulsed Light treatments (IPL, Photo-facial, etc) and numerous chemical peels, thus helping my skin shed the pimento loaf look.
If I had just worn sunscreen none of that would have been necessary.
Sunscreen is inexpensive, easy to apply and it is truly the number one best anti-aging application that you can do for your skin. Apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen for UVA and UVB protection. What’s the difference? UVA rays are the aging rays which deeply penetrate the skin damaging collagen and cells which cause wrinkling and pigmentation. UVB rays are the burning rays that cause sunburns and cancer. Believe me, you don’t want either of those rays penetrating your gorgeous epidermis. So, choose a sunscreen that has at least titanium dioxide or zinc oxide for UVA protection. Zinc oxide provides protection against UVA and UVB rays. And then, reapply, reapply, reapply!
