Saving Your Skin...

This time of year is usually when I begin hammering the sunbeds, all in aid of achieving that bronzed body and complexion in time for my summer holiday. I would always feel slightly guilty about using them but it would never put me off, as I justified it by telling myself, “I don’t use them all year round” and “it’s only the same as sitting under the sun”, true but the UV rays of a sunbed are actually way more intense than that of the sun, upto ten times more so in some cases! So I’ve decided to ditch them and start looking after my skin the way I should.

Luckily I’m really lazy and going to the sunbed shop is actually a massive chore for me so that is one factor that’s encouraged me to bin the beds, but probably the most important one is how they might affect me in the future. I’m well aware that they dramatically increase the chances of skin cancer, and that is something that I no longer want to risk. One of my best friends has gone through so much with her Dad who’s currently fighting cancer and I just think, why would I want to purposely increase my chances when there is a possibility I could have children of my own one day, I would never want to have to put my family through all that when I could have simply avoided it in my younger years. It just isn’t worth it!

Another reason is that although we can’t deny sunbeds do make us look good, all sunkissed and that, it’s only short term. Within practically a week that tan has faded! Looking after my skin now will hopefully prevent premature aging and when I’m 50 I hope that I’ll be able to see the results of taking good care of my skin as a teen. I sometimes serve customers at work who are clearly heavy sunbed users, and although they may only be between 20-30 years old, you can see that the damage has been done. They may be bronzed but it doesn’t look good – they looked aged.

As for my steps to protecting and saving my skin, I decided that investing in a facial suncream would be a good idea. I bought the Bioderma Photoderm AKN Mat - Matifying Fluid in SPF30, the fact that it is a matte fluid enticed me as there is nothing worse than suncream that turns your face into a big white sticky mess (…eh?).  It goes on easily and blends in quickly and it doesn’t leave your face feeling greasy. I use this when I’m having a none foundation or no makeup day as even when the sun isn’t out (which is usually the case in Britain) you are still exposed to the harsh elements in the atmosphere and sunscreen protects against those. Of course many foundations on the market these days have contained SPF so I don’t tend to use this when I have foundation on, as the moisturiser I’m currently using also contains SPF (Estee Lauder DayWear Advanced Multi-Protection Anti-Oxidant Crème SPF 15). I’ve also been using an eye crème to help prevent against wrinkly eyes when I’m older! I got a sample bottle of Estee Lauders Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Eye Recovery Complex when I bought their foundation, and I’ve been applying this round my eyes AM and PM, so far I haven’t seen a drastic change in my dark circles, which it claims to get rid of as well as other things but in the long run it should reduce my chances of saggy baggy eyes when I’m over the hill!

 

 

Now I’m not saying that I’ll be cooped up in the shade when I’m on my Jolly’s, but I WILL be applying suncream generously and NOT frazzling my poor skin cells away! And as for sunbeds, I’m embracing being a Pale Gail more than ever!

What are your thoughts on tanning? Were you ever a sunbed junkie like me?

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye Recovery LINK
Estee Lauder DayWear Crème LINK
Bioderma Photoderm Matifying Fluid LINK