Do You Use Sunscreen?

It seems these days everyone from our favorite influencer to our estheticians are telling us to wear sunscreen.

When I think back on my life, the only times I remember using sunscreen were the days we went to the pool or the beach. I can picture my mother now, pouring the thick white cream onto her hands and slathering our bodies with it. It always left either a grayish or purple hue on our skin.

Photography by Emily Tamfo

But wearing it on an everyday basis and re-applying it every two hours as advised on the bottle was not something we did. Yet, wearing it everyday and reapplying it throughout the day are key to keeping your skin safe.

Our skin is our body's largest organ. You’ve seen me stress this fact before numerous times when speaking on the importance of being choosy with what you put on your skin. Protecting it year-round should be at the top of our to-do list. So I asked people I worked with, people from my own friend group and even family members “do you wear sunscreen? If so, how often do you wear it?”

Not shockingly, the majority of them said no. One person told me, “our grandparents weren’t concerned with it, so why are we?”

And I’m sure you’ve heard the response “I’m Black, I don’t need sunscreen” before. Arguments can be made for both sides in my opinion. 

Yet, I will still tell you to wear sunscreen. Just because we have more melanin, doesn’t mean we are immune to the ultraviolet rays coming from the sun. Per BMC dermatologist, Lisa Shen “people with darker skin are at a higher risk for being diagnosed with later stage melanoma, which can be fatal when left untreated.” 

And for everyone using the grandparents arguement, think about this, our grandparents may not have had the luxury to even think about things like sunscreen. 

I know mine didn’t. My grandparents on both sides of my family grew up poor. My nana often shared stories of her childhood about how her father built the house they lived in, how they grew or raised everything they ate, how her mother made majority of their clothes, and shoes were brought when or if they could afford it.

The Red House, built by my great-grandfather

Sunscreen was not at the forefront of their minds, at all. 

This is not to say our elders were not protecting themselves from the sun in any way – they wore clothing that minimized skin exposure, large straw hats and created shade when there wasn’t any. But buying sunscreen, if it was even accessible to them, I do not believe was at the top of their to-do lists. 

And let’s be real, Black does crack…

Everything from the climate we live in to the foods we ingest affect our skin. Since I’m in the skincare business, I want you to keep that skin looking its best, no matter how old you are. Today, sunscreen is widely available for us to purchase. Your local Walgreens has an array of brands to choose from with different SPF (sun protector factor, the number on the bottle that indicates the level of protection against sunburn) levels. There are chemical based sunscreens, which absorb UV rays, turn it into heat and release it from your body, or mineral based sunscreens, which covers your skin and blocks UV rays. 

According to Dr. Corey Hartman of Skin Wellness Dermatology in Alabama, people with darker skin tones should choose mineral sunscreens, stating “they work better, but they also give you fewer opportunities to have contact dermatitis because there are no chemicals.”

In the past, mineral based sunscreens have gotten a bad rep for leaving us with ashy, grayish or purplish skin. However, we now have brands that create sunscreen for us. No more grayish hued skin. You can feel and look good while you’re outside. 

Remember, healthy, radiant skin is always in. Before you walk out of your house, put on some sunscreen and don’t forget your face!

Signed,

an OG Buttahbabe that wants you to protect your skin