Sunscreen-The story of the sad wrinkled 29 year old hand.

http://www.californiababy.com

With all the rain we've been having, I haven't been able to get much gardening in.  But I figure it's a good time to remind everyone that one of the most important things for gardeners to keep aware of is the sunlight in your garden.  Sometimes our obsessiveness over the amount of the sun our plants are getting doesn't transfer over to remembering how damaging the sun is to us.  Just want a post to remind everyone to stay safe out there!  And no one looks good crispy crunchy and burnt.  If you're out working in the garden for any amount of time, 15 minutes or all day, you need to be wearing sunscreen.  I have been trying lately to use all natural or non-chemical sunscreens, which tend to not be as pretty because they leave behind a white residue.  Burt's Bees is a very inexpensive one I use on my body, and for my face I'm currently using California Baby SPF.  It's $20 a bottle at Ulta, so not too expensive when using it for your face, and it actually fades very well into my skin with no white residue (warning, Burt's Bees has the residue, that's why I only use it for body).  I use this daily under my makeup and it gives me a nice 'dewey' look but also evens out my complexion by providing a slight sheer coverage.  If I'm not feeling the dewey look and want to go matte I just use foundation powder instead of liquid powder that day and blot with a tissue before applying.

http://www.marykay.com/skincare/agefighting

If you don't like putting sunscreen on your face daily like all the doctors say you should, then you need to look at better brands because there's nothing to not like!  Many out there (even in the non-chemical) glide on and soak in with no residue or gross SPF smell at all.  Go into a Sephora or an Ulta and ask the lovely ladies for help finding a daily sunscreen that isn't offensive, or if you're a lady look for a foundation that includes SPF.  I used to use Mary Kay's Timewise Day Solution SPF 35 and if I switch back to a chemical formula I'll definitely go back to that.  It is a stand alone SPF, not a moisturizer with an SPF, so you can use it with whatever you already use and not be worried about a super greasy, over-moisturized face.  Very light, no smell.

The sad wrinkled hand of a 29 year old.

Back when I wasn't trying to be so eco-friendly I loved the sunscreen sport sticks when I needed something more than daily coverage at the beach or for an all day excursion.  These are so easy to glide on my face and smear in and much more convenient to carry around.  I don't know about everyone else but the sunscreen I disliked the most was ANY spray sunscreen.  Even wiping it in after spraying I still ended up with little spots everywhere and often burned.  Also, whenever you put sunscreen on your face (which should be every day, even in winter) put sunscreen on the backs of your hands!  This is the first body part to show signs of aging and has very sensitive skin that is constantly exposed and we rarely think about protecting. Seriously, look at your hands right now.  They're disgusting, wrinkly, veiny.  Do you really want them to get worse?!?

And lastly, get yourself a nice, big, floppy...hat.  Your hair is not magically transformed into sunscreen just because you can't see your scalp.  And your scalp needs protection.  Not only is it sensitive, but if you do happen to get skin cancer on your scalp it's pretty darn hard to see and diagnose early with all that hair in the way.  Bandannas or a baseball cap are also okay if that's your thing but the floppy hat does double duty of also shading your entire face.  If you have a good hairdresser they are usually on the lookout (I've been sent to the dermatologist by mine) but there's only so much they can see during your bi-monthly visit, particularly if you have dark hair.  Not to mention, there is nothing less attractive than peeling scalp burn that looks like you've got a wicked case of chronic dandruff.  So at least wearing a hat for an hour while you're outdoors will save you from having to wear a hat for a week indoors while your scalp peels away in disgusting, white-flakey fashion.  And I'd like to see you trying to put aloe or "sun relief" on your scalp.  Ew.  Blow drying?  Forget about it.  Date night?  HA.  Hat up.  Just do it.

Postscript:  Yes, this entire post was to make me feel guilty about not using my daily sunscreen in the hopes I stop being a hypocrite and start using it again.   But hopefully I'm also guilt tripping all of you into doing it too.  Anyone have any favorites that they want to clue me in on?  Also, I was going to post a picture of me in a big floppy hat, but who are we kidding, the best I have is a structured cowboy hat.  So it's likely I'll be amending this with a lovely picture of my nasty burn/peel scalp in a few weeks instead :o)  Stay tuned!