The Importance of Sunblock

Now that the sun is out to grace us all with the warm golden rays of summer, lets talk about how to protect what we’ve worked so hard to achieve- BEAUTIFUL SKIN! Lets start with the obvious. Are you wearing a sunblock? I would venture to say about 40% of my first-time clients don’t use a sunblock on a regular basis. And by that, I mean regardless of the weather or what your plans are, do you apply an SPF that is not already in your moisturizer and/or SPF during your typical morning routine? The most common response I get is, ”well, there’s some in my makeup.” And I tell my clients that it’s great they are trying to make a conscience effort to try and protect their skin. I then encourage then to purchase a separate sunblock for the occasions when they are outside for any time period longer than 15 minutes. What most people don’t realize is the SPF protects our skin from other things than just UVA and UVB rays, although those are the strongest factor when one uses SPF. The other things you encounter on a daily basis such as your microwave, over head lighting, smartphones, computers, tablets, even your TV is emitting rays that could cause harm to your fragile cells that make up your skin.

When you are outside or even driving in your car those UVA/UVB rays are contributing to premature aging and sunburns. When you are inside surrounded by any infrared lights or blue lights those are contributing to the breakdown of your elastin fibers causing saggy skin and wrinkles along with more brown spots. Not to mention the daily pollutants you’ll encounter while you are driving, walking and just living your life. Not that sunblock protects you from pollutants but it can protects from all of the other things! Now, will you notice a difference if you are wearing a sunblock but you are mostly an inside kinda guy or gal? Immediately? Absolutely not. Would you be able to see a difference long term, big picture type of situation? Absolutely. All of the time spent in front of all the blue lights in our life add up more than you realize. So, while it’s never too late to do something that’s good for you, the sooner you add SPF to your routine the more your skin will thank you. And incase you aren’t aware, your skin thanks you in your 40s, 50s, 60s and so on by not advertising your age and by keeping people guessing. And I promise that’s the best feeling! You will hear me say it a million times, I firmly believe it is so much easier to prevent damage than it is to repair the damage that’s been done. Not that it’s impossible, just easier.

Now that we know all the things that are harming our skin, how do we protect it? I suppose one option could be to move into a cave with no technology and only go outside to get fresh air and exercise at night. To be honest, that option doesn’t work for me. I have kids who crave the great outdoors. As soon as the weather warms up we are out and about finding our next adventure, sometimes even in the dreary winter months on that occasional sunny day we’ll find our way to seek out the warmth of those rays. And that’s OK! It’s ok because my family and I are still applying sunblock (yes, even in the winter, especially in the winter!)

Now let’s talk about the controversy that is sunblock. There are very strong opinions on the matter and that’s ok. Different opinions make the world go round, right? We are all entitled to our opinions and so I’m going to share mine with you on the topic along with some scientific facts that back up my opinion. I believe the good that sunblock can do for you out weighs the bad. Mostly because the “bad” part of sunblock comes from chemicals that are used in these products. Some of those chemicals could be carcinogens that could get into the blood stream and cause cancer. With that being said there is, has always been, and will always be physical sunblocks that don’t contain the dangerous chemicals. So let me explain the difference between the two. A chemical sunblock allows the UVA/UVB rays to penetrate your skin’s barrier and the sunblock that’s laying within your skin will reflect the rays and wont allow them to penetrate any further into the dermis. A physical sunblock is literally sitting on the surface of your skin and blocking the rays from ever penetrating your skin at all. SO right there, you can see why a physical sunblock would be better. In addition to that, most people show sensitivities to chemical sunblock anyway so that should tell us physical is the way to go! Especially because physical sunblock has advanced so much that you can’t actually tell you are wearing sunblock.

So why aren’t you wearing a sunblock again?

Lastly, lets talk about the big C. Yep, I said it, skin cancer. Skin cancer is one of the most preventable cancers and yet thousands of people die every year (mostly from Melanoma vs other skin cancers). One study I read mentioned how only 33-34% of people with Skin cancers actually use sunblock on a daily basis. So what I’m hearing is that almost 66% of people who have been diagnosed with skin cancer haven’t been using sunblock. Now that wasn’t in a medical journal it was on the CDC’s website so take the accuracy with a grain of salt but Im sure the numbers are close.

So here’s what I have to say to that. For whatever reason that’s stopping you from wearing a sunblock when you will be in the sun for long duration, please rethink it. The bottom line is that cancer is a mutation of cells that have gone rouge. That’s the way I understand it anyway. Sometimes you can’t prevent your cells from mutating. Sometimes cancer just happen no matter how healthy you are BUT if you can try to prevent that mutation from happening why wouldn’t you? Wearing sunblock to prevent getting a sunburn is preventing those cells from mutating and possibly going rouge on you in the future.

Having to “deal” with applying sunblock on a regular basis is much better than dealing with all that comes along with a cancer diagnosis if not detected soon enough. Best case, if any of the cancers are caught early enough, you’ll be left with a scar from where it was removed. If it’s melanoma the scar is BIG, speaking from experience since I had a melanoma on my back removed almost 7 years ago. And even if it’s a Basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma, a pretty little scar will come along with getting those removed as well.

The point to all of this is to educate you on why sunblock is important and why we all should be using it. Regardless if you are concerned with the effects of extrinsic aging on your skin or the deeper health issues that go along with UVA&UVB rays. I would like to throw out there that when it comes to any skin cancers, early detection is also so important so while you are applying your sunblock or different lotions make sure you are paying attention to your skin and any new spots that pop up. Do not assume it’s nothing. Always go with your gut and make sure to see your dermatologist or general practitioner and have it checked out. After all, it could save your life. It did mine!