Your supermarket shelves are flooded with sunscreens of various forms. Why not? They are now one of the must-haves in your vanity bag. We now get them under different labels in different forms such as cream, gel, sprays and lotions. Choosing the best among them is always tricky, but a good sunscreen should be able to protect your skin from harmful UVA and UVB rays that can lead to sun burn, or even can lead to skin cancer in the long run. Other than this, sunscreen is generally used to prevent the skin from darkening when you go out into sun.
But even after applying your trusted sunscreen, at times you might have experienced tan and skin burn in few areas. This will bring down all the enjoyment that you had during your sunbathe. A little extra care and taking a few precautionary steps can help you avoid such a situation. Let’s see a few areas where even people who take extra care of their skin might usually forget to apply sunscreen, which can ultimately lead to sun burn and skin damage for your exposed skin.
Places people miss commonly when applying sunscreen:
The right way of application of sunscreen is always important so that it does its job well, i.e., protect your skin. Many people really do not understand how to use sunscreen effectively. If not applied correctly, its effectiveness in guarding you against the sun’s harmful rays will be less. You should not act stingy when you apply sunscreen. Just understand the importance of it for protecting your skin and always apply it generously so that you can yield maximum protection against harmful sun rays. One of the most important things to remember is that you should apply sunscreen 20 to 30 minutes before you go out in the sun. It will ensure that it gets completely absorbed in the skin. If you are applying foundations and moisturizers on your face, sunscreen should be the last product to be applied over them. This is because some sunscreens tend to breakdown in the presence of water containing foundations and moisturizers. People never fail to apply sunscreen on face, arms, neck and legs. But before going out into the intense heat, there are a few more places which require application of sunscreen. Let’s see some of the common places people forget to apply or don’t apply sunscreen.
Back of neck:
Exposure of this area to sun often leads to sunburns and skin darkening. Protect yourself by using jackets, scarves, or best by applying sunscreen.
Back of the legs:
People who apply sunscreen often tend to do it methodically. They start with their shoulders, the arms and legs and so on. But there are those places such as top of the hand, crook of the elbow etc that people often tend to forget. When it comes to legs it’s behind the knees where people often forget. Burn behind the knees can make your walk uncomfortable. So make sure not to miss this area.
Ears:
When you step out, it’s your whole face that gets exposed to heat. But most of the people focus on applying sunscreen on the center of the face such as nose, cheeks and forehead. This leaves the corners of your face exposed to the sun’s rays. Even wearing a cap protects only the center region and often leaves the sides, especially your ears. All the men with short hair and women who keep their hair up are at risk of ear burn.
The ear is also a difficult place to apply sunscreen. This is because of its complex structure with many grooves and cervices. Just putting some sunscreen on your earlobe won’t work. This is because skin cancer cells can appear on all parts of the ear. Even the rims and bowls which seem to be protected from sun are vulnerable to skin cancer cells. Hence it is essential to spend some extra time to apply sunscreen over your ears and make sure that the whole ear is protected from the sun.
Feet:
Like any other body part, our feet also suffer from sun tans and sun burns. But feet is the part of body people often forgets or tend to avoid applying sunscreen. Recent surveys shows that because of people taking protection of feet so lightly, skin cancer on foot is on the rise. Apply sunscreen on your feet so that you can lessen the risk of cancer and tans on your feet.
Hands:
Your hands spend more time in the sun than any other part of your body. But people always tend to forget to apply sunscreen over their hand. Severe tanning, intensification of appearance of wrinkles, and age spots are all the effects of constant exposure to the sun. Your finely manicured fingernails can also get damaged because of UV rays. So take extra care to cover your hands with sunscreen before stepping out.
Scalp:
If you think that your hair will protect your scalp from harmful sun rays, you are mistaken. Even if you have a high volume of hair, sun rays can always find a way through it. Hence it is always good to wear a cap or hat when you go out. If you are not wearing a hat, you should apply a sunscreen on your scalp. It may sound weird, but it is really important for the protection of your scalp. Recent studies have found out that melanoma in scalp and neck can lead to quicker death compared to melanoma elsewhere on the body. Especially in the scalp area, melanoma cells spread more rapidly since it is covered with the hair. This just increases the importance of application of sunscreen over your scalp.
It’s better to use a gel or spray sunscreen over the scalp. This will help you protect your scalp along with keeping you look pretty fashionable. Apply little swipes of sunscreen around your hairline and prevent sunburns around the perimeter of your face.
So, the next time when you go out, make sure you take care to protect these parts also.