Three things you absolutely need for sun protection

Summer's here! (Almost, anyway.) I couldn't be more psyched for many Saturdays spent frolicking in the surf at Zuma, but there's also that "eek" factor having to do with my intense of getting too much sun. The deal with me is that when I was 25 I had the worst kind of skin cancer, that very ugly word beginning with a very ugly "M." Blessedly, it was detected very, very early and everything was taken care of, which means now I've got some bad-ass scars on my back and could very well end up titling my memoir either Holy Moley! or Making Mountains Out of Molehills. Anyway, in my other life as a health writer, I recently wrote a story about skin-cancer prevention and learned a few new things that made me go, "Dude, if I don't already know all this stuff, what are the chances that most other girls do?" And so, here, I give you a little rundown of three things you absolutely need for sun protection. It barely covers all you need to know, and I'd strongly suggest reading this Green Guide story as well. (And this is probably the most important thing I've ever written here, even more critical than that bit about how Evan Dando and Bret Michaels are kind of the same person, so do listen up. Thank you.)

1. Sunblock with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide as the active ingredient. Unlike chemical sunscreens, sunblocks with zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide physically block harmful UV rays from penetrating your skin. (Chemical sunscreens, on the other hand, reflect UV rays, which may not offer as much protection.) I just started using Nature's Gate's SPF 50 Aqua Block; it's treating me well so far. Oh, and you need to put your sunblock on 15 minutes before going out in the sun, then reapply every two hours.

2. A big huge hat. We're talking at least a four-inch brim, y'all: You need it to protect your precious scalp and neck, where the most lethal melanomas are likely to form. This hurts me, because apparently no wide-brimmed hat makes sense on my head. (And, seriously, I've tried them all in the past few weeks. Ugh.) I ended up going with this bordering-on-cute straw thing I found at Macy's - it works for going to the farmers market on Sundays, and maybe will look all right on the beach, but just for strolling around town? No. Hell to the no. So yeah, if you come across any even slightly foxy hats with brims of four inches or more, please let me know.

3. SPF 30 lip balm. This one's tricky too. I was scouring the shelves at my local Whole Foods the other day, and the highest-SPF lip balm I could find was an SPF 22 by Lizard Lips (which I do love, by the way). Last week at Shell Beach Surf Shop in my spiritual home of, uh, Shell Beach, I found some SPF 30 stuff by Hawaiian Island Creations - it's made with parabens, which doesn't exactly turn me on, but I bought it anyway. At any rate, it would behoove you to apply your lip protection under your lipstick/gloss whenevs you're going to be out in the sun for more than 20 minutes at a time. And for heaven's sake, don't spend time in the sun with just lip color and no sun protection on your mouth, since research shows that shiny lips attract UV rays.

Posted by Liz in Beauty
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