I love summer, but what I don’t really like is how easily I burn in the sun. I am fair skinned and sunburn has been an issue for years. When no one even seemed to have been affected by the sun, my skin was all red and raw. Over the years I have found ways to prevent myself from turning lobster red the minute I step outside.
The first thing is to cover up. Protect your eyes from the sun by wearing sunglasses and find a nice sun hat that allows you to protect the rest of your face and also your neck. I also like to cover up my back and shoulders as they burn so easily. In summer, especially if I am in warmer climates or at a beach I will make sure to wear a thin cardigan or other cover up to protect my skin.
Besides covering up, a great way of not burning in the sun is to simply not go into the sun too much. If I decide to go out on a sunny day I try to stick to the shade. But how do you tan? I don’t. I keep my skin fair because tanning is in a way already damaging to your skin. And what’s wrong with being pale? Especially my legs will only burn and do not tan to begin with, so that is truly not worth the pain and effort.
Even if you stick to the shade and cover up nicely, wearing a good sunscreen is a must. Because even in the shade you can burn. The worst sunburn I ever got was when I went to a beach with friends on a cloudy day that wasn’t too hot, but the mixture of sunlight and wind was still futile for my skin. So using sunscreen when you go outside is a must. I am not a big lover of using sunscreen at all times, because I work indoors, so if I am outdoors for just 30 minutes I will use that time for my skin to soak up some vital Vitamin D.
The sunscreen I love the best are the Garnier ones for the body and I love the Biodermal fluid for the face. The latter doesn’t break me out and isn’t too oily, which makes it perfect for putting on the face. At the beginning of summer I tend to use SPF 50 and after a while I will stick to SPF 50 for the face and SPF 30 for the body. Anything less than SPF 30 will lead me to burn so I have to use a high SPF and apply it regularly. Even when I am not swimming and only roaming around a city, I will reapply sunscreen every 2 hours or so if I’m out all day.
The final step to protecting your skin if you burn easily is to make sure you take proper care of it. Even if you don’t burn, make sure you moisturize as the sun and wind will dry out your skin. Especially if it is hot, I love popping into a shower after a long day to freshen up and then moisturize with a thin body lotion. I leave the thick body butters for winter time, but in summer I switch to body lotions and aloe vera after sun cream. I like using thin formulas that feel cooling on the skin.
How do you take care of your skin in summer.
4 responses to “My summer tips for fair skin”
Great tips! I like to be a little bit tanned so I don’t look like I’m dying (I’m extremely pale). But protecting your face is super important.
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How do you make sure you are tanned then? Because I am pale, but only turn red. Tan is not in my skin’s arsenal!
At the moment super pale. I also go red first then I tan. Other way is to fake it with tinted moisturiser so there is a little colour and you don’t look like an orange.
My face tans nicely that way, so do my arms, chest and back. But my legs just don’t tan at all. And I’m afraid of using self tanner :-(. Will have to try some sort of leg make up some time.