Want to Get Rid of Sun Damage???
I remember when I was younger and summer would come, I would get so excited to be tan. Why wouldn't I be? I felt better about myself when I was tan. At the time it was cool to be tan and I honestly don't remember anyone telling me any different. Nobody preached the dangers and damages the sun can cause. In fact my mother would even recommend mixing iodine and baby oil to get a better tan. There I would be in my back yard with my concoction and I would line my folding lawn chair with aluminum foil. YIKES!!!!! If teenagers today saw this, they may think us primitive. I remember comparing arms to my best friend, in our race to see who could get darker. In fact I even worked at the local tanning salon, where I could tan for free. It was actually encouraged by my boss. It was so funny looking back now and how ridiculous it is, the training I had, to believe tanning was good for me. Its sad because I am sure this still goes on today. I would tan at work and then I would get out of work and go down the road to another tanning salon and tan again. I thought this made me look better, I thought I looked healthy even though my skin looked older then it was. Well tanning and sun exposure is far from good for you.
Lets start by learning what a tan is. A tan plane and simply put is your skins way of protecting you from the harmful and damaging effects of ultra violet rays. We now know there is so much damage that can happen from sun exposure. It may not show up today, maybe not tomorrow but believe me it will show up. When it does you will ask yourself just as I did....."What did I do to my skin?" So this blog will be a toolkit of sorts to help prevent further damage and to reverse the sun damage that you already have.
FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE = PROTECTION=PREVENTION
I cannot stress this enough, wear sunscreen/sunblock. My good friend just the other day was basking in the sun while we were on a patio having cocktails. My friend asked me if she had a red line. I told her yes, her response......"Oh good I will be nice and tan tomorrow" Meanwhile I'm hiding in the shade along with her sister in law. Why, because I want to stay looking young as long as possible. I made sure to put my sunscreen on before leaving the house. Protecting your skin is so vital to preventing future damage. You will want to make sure to get yourself a broad spectrum sunscreen. Why is this you ask??? Well not all sun rays are created equal. You need protection from UVB and UVA rays.
⚠ WARNING ⚠
**Do no t listen to the tanning salons, they will tell you to use the new high pressure beds, that the new beds have less of the UVB rays "the burning rays" (cancer causing). Well if there is less UVB then there is more UVA rays and guess what those are called...."the aging rays"**
Broad spectrum sunscreen will protect you from UVA and UVB rays. My favorite go to sunscreen is from ColoreScience...Sunforgettable. It is so easy to use and does not clog my pores. With an SPF of 50 and a simple brush on application, this makes it easy and convenient to use and reapply as often as necessary. It can be used alone or over make up. Check out some of the other nice benefits of this great sunscreen:
No mess: This is a powder and will not be as messy as your traditional liquid sunscreen.
Physical Protection: Mineral based active ingredients and benzone free
Gives a light weight coverage and comes in fair, medium, tan and deep
How else can you protect your skin?
Wear a hat when outside, this along with sunscreen and you can power punch those sun rays away from your skin.
Wear sunglasses, the skin around your eyes is very thin and delicate, wearing sunglasses will help to protect this area
So why do we need protection anyway???
It's simple, sun damage can cause skin cancer. In fact every time you get a sunburn it increases your risk of getting skin cancer. Did you know that just 5 blistering sunburns in your lifetime increases your risk of melanoma by 80%? Yikes, that is so scary!!! So what else is happening to your skin from the sun??? Lots, did you know that a sunburn actually damages your DNA?? I will say no thank you to that!!!
Sun damage causes your collagen to break down faster. Why do we care about collagen?? We care because collagen is like scaffold that provides strength & structure. In fact the word collagen comes from the Greek word "kolla" meaning glue. There is another protein that works together with collagen and that is elastin. When both of these start to degrade then your skin will start to sag and wrinkle. So do yourself a favor and protect your skin, after all it does protect you.
When you are exposed to ultraviolet rays your skin starts to go in to defense mode, it produces excess melanin or skin pigment, this is your tan. Well this eventually turns into visible larger sun spots, or even melasma or hyper-pigmentation. Its not pretty and it can make your skin tone look uneven and dirty. It is very difficult to get rid of once it has surfaced, not impossible. There are several safe options to help fade and rid your skin of this nuisance. I am testament to this. my sun damage came out in the form of melasma when I was pregnant with my son, at the time I could do nothing about it until I gave birth and was done breast feeding. I started researching what I could do to get rid of it. I felt like I looked older then I was. I did not want to use the old standard hydroquinone, there was news about the long term effects of this ingredient that scared me.
So my search continued. I knew that Vitamin C could help to brighten my complexion as well as help with collagen production but this can be tricky. You have to be careful when it comes to Vitamin C, there are many forms and you have to make sure that it is verified stabilized. I prefer to use Vitamin C that is ascorbic acid. You also want to make sure that it comes in a bottle that is dark in color because the light can make it go bad. I will go into more detail about Vitamin C in another blog post. So late one night I was searching the Internet and came across my jewel!!! The product that saved my face. I know you are wondering what is it, tell me please. First let's talk about the super power ingredients that make it such a great product. First and foremost no hydroquinone. This makes me smile just knowing that I would not be putting anything harmful on my skin. Let's take a look at what it does have!!! Alpha Arbutin,Sepiwhite, Gigiwhite, Symwhite, Lactic Acid, Vitamin C.
Alpha Arbutin- Derived from the leaves of the bearberry bush and suppresses formulation of melanin.
Sepiwhite - Derived from phenylalanine, an essential amino acid
Gigiwhite - Patented ingredient made from 7 Swiss Alpine plants including: peppermint, primula and mallow plant.
Symwhite - Antioxidant derived from a molecule that is found in the pine tree.
Lactic Acid- A strong alpha hydroxy acid that has been used for exfoliation of the skin, to help reduce wrinkles and to even and brighten skin tone.
Koji Acid- derived from many species of fungus and is known to limit melanin production.
Licorice Extraxt- skin brightening agent of this plant is glabridin and studies have shown it to have significant brightening qualities. It is non toxic and also has anti-inflammatory properties.
Mulberry Extraxt- a flowering plant with known skin brightening agents
So you see Meladerm has some great skin brightening ingredients. I wish that I had a before photo from 8 years ago when I started using this miracle. I had such a bad case of melasma. I use this still twice a year to keep my skin bright and free of discoloration.
I will be trying out some new products, some fads that are popular right now and sharing my results with you. I hope you enjoyed today's topic and keep visiting for more beauty and skincare tips.
