I have a funny relationship with my skin and the sun. As a kid I always tanned easily, despite my mom slathering on SPF 45 at any free moment. Because I’m half Italian, I never really burned so didn’t think too much about it. We spent a lot of time at the beach, and I always loved the way that I looked with sunkissed hair and skin.
When I moved to southern California for college, I was excited about living in a place that was sunny year-round. I used to do my reading for class outside with tanning oil on a weekly basis. Ten years later, I want to go back and shake my college-aged self and swap out that oil for SPF 15 or higher.
At around age 25 I started burning in the sun at the beginning of the summer or beach vacations, something new to me. Apparently your skin changes in this way as you age, who knew!? Since then I’ve become diligent about applying sunscreen before we go to the beach, and again every hour while we’re there… seriously!
While it’s obvious that sunscreen belongs in your beach bag, it might be less obvious that you should actually be wearing it daily if you plan to be outside. I like to use a daily moisturizer with SPF 15. I use this anywhere that my skin will be exposed. It might seem crazy but sun damage is no joke, and my philosophy these days is better safe than sorry.
It was also around this time in my mid-twenties that I started seeing an esthetician for acne, and she was appalled that I didn’t wear sunscreen on my face daily.
Once she educated me on how much the sun can damage your skin’s elasticity and age you at a much faster rate, I finally started wearing a moisturizer with SPF every single day, rain or shine. As you know, I’ve become a fan of Olay’s Micro-Sculpting Cream and they actually have a product with SPF 30 for daily use!
While I still love to lay out in the sun and get a tan (I’m only human!), I’m now more aware of how to do this in a safe way: Use sunscreen, stay hydrated, and don’t overdo it. I urge any of you, no matter how old you are, to do the same!
Read more of my anti-aging skincare tips here.
Beach Bag / Book / Lemon Sandals c/o / Water Bottle c/o / Baby Hat c/o / Rug
Thank you to Olay for sponsoring this post. All opinions, as always, are my own.
