How to prevent sunscreen without sunscreen? 7 tips to help lose the sunscreen.
Do you know how to prevent sunburn without sunscreen? Maybe even skin cancer? Even with the sun like this all summer?
As long as you stay out of the sun when it is that bright and burning orange, you can prevent sunburn without sunscreen! But who wants to live in a cave? Your ability to save your skin is constantly being improved.
Just remember, keep the sun off your skin! OK, you can have 10 safe minutes of sun, or even 20 minutes if you are smart about it. Are you willing to exercise enough self-discipline to qualify for ‘smart?’
There are some things you can do to keep yourself safe from the sun. But really, with the sun that is hot and at its most deadly hours between 10 AM and 4 PM in our part of Central Texas you are asking for trouble.
Rule #1 Avoid The Sun
So rule #1 from Lose The Sunscreen And Prevent Sunburn is to avoid the sun during the most dangerous hours of the day.
This image is not what I meant by avoiding the sun at its stronger time of day! This shows people asking for trouble.
If you want to live a sun-safe lifestyle, you have to pay attention to a few rules!
Rule # 2 Wear Your Sunglasses
The protection part of the lenses in your sunglasses is made by one of two methods.
The protection is a result of certain chemicals added to the lens materials when they are in the manufacturing process. Or the manufacturer can apply some special coating to the lens.
Either method can result in UV protection. The UPF for sunglasses will be on the label as with clothing. Otherwise, it is difficult to tell what you are getting, just as with clothing.
The amount of tint is usually a persona preference and isn’t noted on the tags on the sunglasses. If you live in a sunny all year around part of the world and have sensitive eyes to the sunlight as I do, you will probably prefer a darker color that lets less light through.
Selecting a 100% UV-blocking pair of sunglasses is important. Some manufacturer’s labels will state “UV Absorption up to 400nm.” This is another way of saying, 100%.
If you chose a wrap-around style of sunglasses, you will get better protection as you are protecting your eye and the skin around your eye. This style holds the lenses closer to your face and covers more skin as well.
Sunglasses with oversized lenses and thick or wide frames will block more sun from your face than smaller narrower frames and lenses.
This article from McGill University will give you information about why you might want to pay a little more for your sunglasses.
The statement that your amount of UV protection never diminishes is new for me, as there are other manufacturing sites that limit the time their protection will last. This will be in a future post as I research more available information.
Rule # 3 Wear Your Sun Hat
Yes, hats protect from the sun as well as block the sun’s UV rays.
Planning a day outside in the sun? Whatever you are doing from having a fun day on the beach, or jogging, hiking, or just going to run some errands?
Make sure that you bring a hat along with you to prevent too much exposure to the sun. Wearing a baseball cap will give you some protection.
A broad sun hat can help prevent painful sunburn from exposure to the UV rays.
The best outdoor activity hats have wide brims to shade your face as well as the top of your head, and the back of your neck when you’re outdoors. If you insist on running in a cap, make sure to have a shirt with a collar to pull up and protect your neck.
The back of the neck is one of the main locations for skin cancers.
An underappreciated fact of hats is that they help shade your eyes from those bright sun rays. Hats and sunglasses are important.
Your hat also helps regulate your body temperature by keeping the sun off your head, face, neck, ears, and nose. Even a few degrees can be beneficial for helping your body stay out of trouble with heat strokes.
A sunburn pushes your core body temperature up, and this makes your skin have to work harder to cool itself and stay productive so can stay active. Hats are Important if want to prevent sunburn without sunscreen.
Rule # 4 Cover Your Skin To Prevent Sunburn Without Sunscreen
Cover your skin when you are out in the sun. Chose sun blocking clothing or UPF, whichever name for special clothing you use. A long-sleeve loosely-fitting shirt that is tightly woven and darker colored, or UPF treated for your safety. Then color matters less. Lighter color shirts will protect you if they are a UPF of at least 50.
A UPF of 30 is helpful, but if you are out too long, you may run the risk of sunburn. A UPF of 5 is better than nothing! So wear something when you are out in the sun.
Why settle for ‘better than nothing?’ (This is how we describe my homemade biscuits! That is just not one of my skills.) Since you know that there is better coverage available, why would you go for less than the best you can get?
Rule # 5 Wear The Best Sun Blocking Shirt In Your Closet
Are you shopping from your own personal closet for something to wear in the direct sun? If you have not yet acquired your sun blocking wardrobe, what can you grab?
- Tightly wove fabric– hold that shirt up to the sun, or to the bright light in the room. Can you see the light through the weaving of the cloth? If you can see the light in the pinpricks, the light will be able to see you! There will be sunburn if you rely on this kind of shirt for all-day coverage. Chose the tightest weave you have. Like denim is a great one unless it has worn spots where it is thinner, then it will allow the sun to get to your skin in those worn spots.
- Loosely fitting garment. If that shirt from your closet is not a loosely fitting one with long sleeves and a collar, it might not be the best choice. Allowing the air to be able to circulate around your body and dry the sweat is important.
- If a knit, make sure that it fits loosely. Stretched tight areas will allow the sun into your skin, and allow sunburning. Sleeves long enough to cover the tops of your hands offer maximum protection.
- Fabrics that are blended usually offer better protection than cotton alone for tee-shirts, like poly-cotton blend, and nylon, then there is wool. Dark colors are better than light if not UPF rated.
- Your closet may offer a great start for finding sun blocking clothing. Or it may not. Reguardless, wear something! The greater danger is too long in the sun with nothing between you and the sun.
Rule # 6 Learn To Love Shade
Learn to use shade. A natural shade like trees. Such a simple thing, but spending more time in the shade is important if you want to lose the sunscreen.
Trees, umbrellas, awnings, pop-up tents. There are many choices in little tents to stay out of the sun while on the beach. Protecting yourself will give you lots of options. Now that you are aware of the need to protect your skin from the sun.
Can you undo the damage that has already been done to your skin? Maybe you can, at least some of it. You should be able to avoid more damage by changing some careless habits and becoming aware of the sun.
Umbrellas have been important forever, to mankind to protect them from the sun. Most of the early efforts were more because of the heat factor, as preventing skin damage from the sun is a relatively new science.
Without the technology developed, later on, the early users of umbrellas found them to be bulky and cumbersome. You had to be wealthy to afford to pay someone to keep you in the shade and adequately cover you to keep the sun away.
Carry your own umbrella and appreciate the fact that they are now engineered so that we can handle our own. Cover your skin from the sun. Will this keep you from tanning? No, there are too many reflections to prevent tanning, but it can prevent sunburn.
Using a garden wagon to move your sun blocking tools around may seem a little ‘out there’ to you if you have not given your skin much protection to this point in your life. Pulling a wagon for some portable shade, the cooler for having cold water and snacks work well for us.
However, being able to set up a sun blocking shade for your family to enjoy a day at the lakeside or on the beach is not that difficult. Plan ahead to have sun protection and enjoy safe fun in the sun.
Sure beats the alternative of no skin protection from the sun.
Rule # 7 Finding Your Sun Safe Lifestyle
Safe sun lifestyles can help protect your skin without sunscreen. Being wise about your decisions when going out in the sun. Become an early morning or late afternoon person for outside activities, especially in the summertime.
If you do schedule something to be out in the hotter times of day, your choices of clothing will determine if you can forgo sunscreen for those in your family over 20 years old. By age 20, most youngsters have mature skin or nearly mature skin.
Were you aware that it takes this long for our skin to be considered mature?
If we decide to adopt safer sun habits, we can prevent skin cancer or find it early when it’s easier to treat.
The American Academy of Dermatology encourages skin protection. For a long while now, sunscreen has been touted as the only thing that works. Even with all its flaws, it was all we had.
Now we have knowledge that makes this no longer true. It may well be that you will need some sunscreen on your face, and the tops of your hands. These are areas of our body we can get to easily and reapply often. Not like the trunk of your body which includes your back.
Harder-to-reach backs offer the sun lots of skin area for sunburn. A sun blocking shirt handles this issue completely, and as long as you keep the shirt on, you are protected.
Yes, everyone needs to use sun protection. Reguardless of their age, gender, or race. Skin cancer can almost always be cured when it’s found and treated early.
This early catching also refers to melanoma. Make it an everyday lifestyle to practice safe time in the sun.
Sami’s Take On How To Prevent Sunburn Without Sunscreen
Have you had sunburn yet? Are you finding it difficult to get all motivated about staying safe in the sun? Are you still addicted to a tan?
I am assured that it is never too late to change your lifestyle and adopt a few sun-safe habits. Do I think that you are going to change a lifetime of habits overnight?
No, I know it takes a while to become aware of a situation. Then you will also have to decide what is best for you. If a bronze body is what you want, please get checked by a dermatologist every 4 months. Make sure you catch the skin cancer as early as possible.
Adding awareness to when a safer time for you and your sun exposure to make skin protection easier can be a safer lifestyle. However, you have to want to make good choices for yourself.
Good choices for those of us who live in the Central part of Texas will be different from those of you who live in upper Maine. Awareness is the first step. Find the safe times for you where you live.
Thanks,
Sami