Luckily, at last some sunshine again! Although it’s nice having lovely weather, I have already written extensively in my blog about the negative effects from exposing your skin to sunlight. So slap it on well! During my search for suitable sun creams, I discovered another good reason for not going into the sun unprotected….
Last week my husband went on an annual trip with his “old” student friends. On his return (because, of course, we missed him so much…) the kids were waiting by the door to greet him with their banners, drawings, practiced dance routines, etc. When he eventually arrived home the children didn’t gave all their usual screams of joy. It was only our eldest, after a few minutes of silence, who dared to make the remark: “Papa you’re so red”. It turned out he’d spent a day on a sailing boat and hadn’t noticed anything due to the cold wind. Seriously burnt! After some harsh remarks (I write about the dangers of the sun daily, and this happens…) I did give him a few tips.
The report “self confidence from sun” was in the ‘Spits kopt’ last Monday. This emerged from market research on behalf of the tanning studio chain, Sunday’s. The comments made here were that, provided that you become tanned sensibly, there won’t be any health risks involved.
I am returning once again to the subject of the sun: too much sun causes ageing of the skin, resulting in wrinkles, including around the eyes. Fortunately there is an attractive solution for this: sunglasses.
Recently I was outside in the garden with my youngest boy Bo. After almost an hour of trying to set up two parasols (you can never be too careful), hunt for a cap, a tough battle getting the SPF 30 on and finally sliding him into his baby walker, I could at last relax on the patio with my book and cappuccino. After reading only the first page Bo and baby walker had disappeared to the only sunny place on the patio where he’d tossed his cap into the rose bushes.
Often people don’t apply enough sun cream. In order to have the protection of the stated SPF on the product, you need to apply 2mg/cm2 onto your skin. With this amount you are certain of the level of SPF stated on the sun protection cream.
Jetske has today asked me, Peter Velthuis, as guest blogger to add a piece on her blog about the sun.
Everyone knows that burning is not good for your skin. There is clear evidence of a link between burning and the most dangerous form of skin cancer melanoma.
A protection factor is fine to have in your make-up as long as you realise that it provides only a very low protection.
The damage that the sun does to your skin can be avoided. The American Academy of Dermatology advises applying a minimum of SPF15 daily. A sun protection cream only prolongs the time before your skin starts to change colour so sitting in the sun all day and smearing it in only once is not enough. Protect yourself! You cannot sit in the sun for an unlimited amount of time. What usually happens is that people don’t use enough sun cream. Only 25-50% of what is actually necessary! Because of this the factor is greatly reduced and therefore gives much less protection.