subject: Yes, You Need Sunblock [print this page] Wearing sunblock is inconvenient, messy and expensive. So who needs sunblock? Everybody. If you want to keep your skin healthy, it's essential. According to the American Cancer Society there are over 1,000,000 cases of skin cancer diagnosed each year and the number one cause of damage to your skin is exposure to the sun.
Skin cancer is just one of the reasons to wear sunblock. Let's face it, damage from the sun makes you look older. People who live in hot, sunny climates tend to look older than those of us who live up here in the snow belt. If you start early and use sunscreen regularly, you can avoid all of the damage to your skin caused by the sun. The effect that the sun has on your skin accumulates slowly over the years and once you get into your 30s you can really start to see the effects the sun has had on your skin. Using sunblock can make a huge difference in the years to come.
Are sunblock and sunscreen the same thing? There are some big differences. Sunblock scatters and reflects the light like sitting under an umbrella. It acts as a physical barrier with chemicals like zinc that are often opaque and look like a layer of white on your skin. While effective at blocking the rays some of the drawbacks are the greasy feeling on your skin and the social stigma of walking around with a nose painted white.
Sunscreens aren't as visible as sunblock and also protect your skin in a different way. Sunscreens filter out a certain range of harmful UV light and keep the UVA and UVB rays from getting to your skin. The sun has a way of breaking down the the blocking chemicals in sunscreen so make sure that you keep reapplying it every couple of hours.
Key points to remember about sun protection:
* Sunscreen needs to dry before it works at its best. Make sure you put it on at least 30 minutes before you head out for the beach.
* Kids have tender young skin that needs extra protection from the sun. Make sure that you apply lotion with an SPF of at least 30 on children. Hats and light cotton shirts and pants aren't a bad idea either.
* If your sunscreen is older than 3 years, throw it out. Most sunscreens have a shelf life of 3 years from date of purchase and after that the chemicals start to lose their effectiveness.
* Using sunscreen has the unwanted effect of preventing your skin from producing vitamin D. Sunlight stimulates your skin to produce vitamin D naturally, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to start taking supplements to make up for what the sunscreen is blocking out.
* No sunscreen is completely waterproof so even if it says so, you still need to reapply sunscreen if you've been in the water to get the maximum benefit.
* You can get a sunburn on a cloudy day and even under an umbrella. Clouds don't block the UV rays that cause sunburn and water, sand and snow can all reflect the burning rays even when you're under cover.
