I remember my older sister taking me to Oceans of Fun when I was about 11 years old and being the teenager sister she was, she really didn’t seem to have the motherly instinct of reminding me to put on sunscreen. I remember my face got so bunt that it blistered up and I ended up at the doctors office where they coated me with some burn cream and bandages. Needless to say that my mom was not happy with my sister.
As I approached my teenage years, I was still trying to fool myself that I could tan by rubbing baby oil on my skin and laying outside on the deck or using the new quick tanning products that were on the market. Anybody remember the QT in the blue and white bottle? Neither seemed to work as I either turned out red as a lobster or as orange as a pumpkin.
After becoming a mom, I made it a priority to protect my kids from the suns rays, and even though I had heard you should wear sunscreen year around, I never really did and even jumped on the tanning bed bandwagon for a few years.
As you can see, the years are catching up with me and the fine lines and wrinkles are appearing.
As an Ambassador for Whole Foods Market, we are given information on a certain topic and asked to share it with you. As you might have guessed this months theme is all about sunscreen. I am an avid believer that you can never stop learning and when I read this post, I learned some new things I never knew about sunscreen.
For starters I always thought sunscreen would prevent skin cancer, that I really didn’t need to wear sunscreen when driving and I didn’t realize there are two types of sunscreen. I also had no idea that some chemicals in sunscreens can disrupt the endocrine system and harm marine wildlife.
And although, as you will read in the post above that sunscreen will not prevent skin cancer, I have to believe that some is better than none.
Reality has hit me recently when I went to the dermatologist to see about some injectables for wrinkling (which I will cover in another post sometime soon.) Long story short, right away she pointed out that the most wrinkled side of my face was the one that faced the drivers side window and that the rays can still penetrate through the glass, causing premature aging and not too much can be done to fix that, but sunscreen can help further damage.
This video on how the sun sees your skin and how sunscreen works totally blew me away. I already have a visible freckles on my face and neck and would be very interested in seeing my skin under this ultra-violet light.
So now that I am a sunscreen advocate, what do I choose?
For me I like a high spf and and chemical free. I love Alba Organics, Kiss My Face and Jason which are all available at Whole Foods Market. If you happen to get too much sun and need a little relief from a sunburn, you can also get Jason after sun aloe vera.
I’m also a fan of getting under an umbrella or cabana when poolside!
Make sure when you stop into Whole Foods Market to get your sunscreen grab a green juice for the juice bar to nourish your insides too! I think my next steps to give up the straws so I don’t get such fine lines around my lips.
I would love to hear what anti aging tips you have and your thoughts on sunscreen.