Sun Safety Rules

...........................................................................................................................................................................

California is a sunny state, which is of course a great thing since I come from a year in Bergen, a rainy city! If there is one thing I have become extremely cautious about it is the sun. According to the WHO one in every three cancers diagnosed is skin cancer. Mainly responsible for melanoma, a type of skin cancer, is exposure to the sun and a history of sunburn. For non melanoma skin cancers about 90% are associated with ultraviolet (UV) radiation says the Skin Cancer Foundation.

| A bad sunburn in Cancun, Mexico 5 years ago |

Previously, I could wear just tanning oil the last days in a vacation to get as tan as possible. I would forget to apply more lotion/oil throughout the day and get sunburned. I used to think that it didn't matter because I would get tan afterwards, buuuut often my skin would peel off and I eventually lost all the color. Also, the color would disappear very quickly.

SO, I made myself some new rules the last couple of years:

| My sun commandments illustrated in Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |

After traveling a lot I have a couple of sun lotion favourites. The first and my favourite is Coppertone Sport Sun Spray (SPF 15). You just spray yourself and you don't have to rub it in, which is great when you are at the beach and need to re-apply. It takes literally less than half a minute and you are done. When I couldn't find Coppertone I used Hawaiian tropic lotion (SPF 15 or 30) which is a favourite since it doesn't feel sticky at all and you don't notice you are wearing sun lotion, unfortunately Coppertone leaves you a bit sticky.

Last year I discovered Riemann's 'Once-a-day lotion' and it actually works, I didn't get burned, I did get tan, and I only applied it in the morning before tanning! It doesn't feel sticky either!

 

| My favourite sun lotion |

There are so many great options to fake-tan with bronzers or spray-tans. I have never been to a tanning salon or used a tanning bed, and I never will. If I don't travel as much in the future I will rather try out different bronzers and look orange one day to find a good bronzer instead.. haha

Are you cautious about the sun?