Tomorrow starts Spring Break around these parts. Lots of people use this as an excuse to hit the beach. Oh how I love the beach. I must admit when I was in college my Mom always told me to wear my sunscreen but I thought I was invincible and I would always go for a good tan. I’m paying for it now with sun damaged skin that is difficult to fix. I can’t tell you how many times a day I hear “no one told me not to tan” or “we used to use foil and betadine to get a tan, we didn’t know any better”. Well, here I am hoping to change this for our generation so that we do “know better” telling you to take care of your skin this spring break. Here are some spring break sun smart tips.

1. Avoid the hottest part of the day. The Skin Cancer Foundation recommends staying out of the sun from 10AM-4PM when sun rays are most damaging. We went to the zoo yesterday and planned our indoor shopping and eating around lunch time. Zoo time was 2-5pm so although we were outside part of this time window we spent some of it inside as well. This is easy to do for the planner. Plan your vaca in a sun smart way this year.
2. Seek shade. Bring your big umbrella. No I’m not talking about the umbrella in your drink. A big umbrella or sun protective tent can allow you to enjoy the sand and waves with less sun exposure.
3. Wear your sun protective clothing. www.coolibar.com has some cute options for the fashion forward. What’s more timeless and chic than a big floppy hat on the beach? If I had it my way you would wear long sleeves, long pants, big floppy hat, neck drape and sunglasses.
4. Obviously wear your sunscreen. Unfortunately its not enough to apply sunblock in the AM and be done. You should apply at least 30 SPF broad spectrum every two hours. For sun exposed skin you should use at least 1 ounce total, thats a full shot glass. We used BOB at the zoo. Its brush on block, sunscreen in powder form on a brush. It’s the bomb! My baby giggles every time I apply it to her little sweet cheeks.
5. Don’t tan as beach preparation to avoid a burn. Seriously, why?!?!?! I constantly hear people say they are only tanning to get ready for the beach so they can avoid sun burn or so they can blend in the dark spots they already have. I don’t care how tan you get, if you aren’t sun smart you will still burn at the beach. Oh, and guess what? As you darken your skin you are also darkening those dark spots so they aren’t going to blend in any better.
6. Spray tan or use self tanner. If you just want to look tan do it in a safer way please. I don’t want you to have thickened, thinned, wrinkly, leathery, scaly, spotty skin one day (were any of those real words?). My favorite self tanner is either Jane Iredale or Jergens. I have been fooled by them before thinking they were real tans. If you want my personal opinion, pale is the new style. Tan cellulite does not look better than white cellulite, I promise. It’s like saying hail damage looks better on a black car then a white car, nope it’s still hail damage. *Now stepping off of soap box*

If your all grown up and don’t get spring breaks any more then maybe I will see you at the clinic this week! If you didn’t listen to any of my tips and get home with a sun burn, stop in and let me help you.  I will only scold you a little! If you have been considering any cosmetic treatments we are offering some major SPRING BREAK SPECIALS on Botox and fillers this week. Hope you all relax and re-energize this week in a sun smart skintastic way! Toodles, Nina

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