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Environment

The sun is out and I got my sunscreen

Blog entry posted by cesar in Environment on May 22, 2024 - 12:29pm
Key words: Environment, Helioplex, Uvb Rays, Sunscreen, Skin Of Color, Skin Cancer, Types Of Sunscreen, Sunscreen For Dark Skin.

The past two or so days have been very sunny and HOT! I went to CVS today to pick up some sunscreen and a few thoughts/questions crossed my mind:

1)  What level SPF should I get? I heard somewhere (I don't remember where) that anything above 50 SPF isn't really doing much. I figure, it couldn't hurt, right? (I got the 30)

2) What is this "HelioPlex" thing on the bottles? Is it the same as broad spectrum which blocks both UVA and UVB rays? I didn't bother to investigate since the helioplex ones were more money than I was willing to spend. So if you know....

3) What type should I get? They have lotions and sprays...lotion sprays and clear sprays. I settled on the clear spray  because the lotions leave a horrible pink/purple/blue residue on my brown skin. And that brought me to another thought...some of my friends of colour don't wear sunscreen because they feel they have protection. My (very) dark skinned grandfather had skin cancer so obviously this 'protection' is not 100%. Would you PLEASE WEAR SUNSCREEN! And don't over do it in the sun. Skin cancer is serious. COVER UP!

Check out this information about skin cancer, ethnic skin care and the 'light' protection we have against some sun

http://www.brownskin.net/ageless_black.html

http://www.brownskin.net/cancer.html 

 

 

4

Comments

Posted 1 year ago

Lanaflava wrote

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Great post Cesar! I'm very into sunscreen and love when other people are too. I'll try to answer some of your questions:

1) 45 is probably the highest you should go. Everything above 45 is just about the same in terms of protection and you run the risk of annoying, thick, uncomfortable creams. 15 and 30 are great too!

2) Helioplex is the newest sun protection technology. Here's an explanation from Wikipedia on how it works: "Helioplex is a proprietary name for a formulation of broad spectrum UVA/UVB skin protection containing Avobenzone and Oxybenzone.

Avobenzone containing products have decreasing efficacy after a few hours of sun exposure, but the addition of Oxybenzone reduces the amount of degradation that occurs."

It's the best stuff out there so if you have the extra cash it's worth it. Regular sunscreen will definitely do the trick too, but remembering to reapply is really important!

3)All sunscreen is better than no sunscreen. The most important thing is to find one that you'll use consistently. What I've heard about sprays is that since the mist is finer than a cream, people tend to put less on. So, since you chose the spray, make sure you put on a thick, even layer and reapply reapply reapply!!

Posted 1 year ago

cesar wrote

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ah..very interesting. Thanks for answering those questions! I'm about to go out again so I will spray on some more sunscreen....

Posted 1 year ago

Riverside wrote

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Cesar, I definitely prefer the spray sunscreen too, because the lotions are usually so thick and goopy. I had no idea that the higher SPFs don't necessarily protect you more - I guess I'll stick to my SPF 30 and make sure, as lanaflava suggested, to reapply, reapply, reapply! (or at least try to!)