14 Jul The terrible mistake the UK is making when purchasing sun cream
You can’t walk into any Boots, Superdrug or even your local independent store without seeing the marketing for sun creams in the Summer months. It’s glaring at you, with SPF this and UVA that, encouraging mothers, grandmas, sisters, brothers, fathers and even your uncle to pick up a tube or spray to place into their holiday bag.
The marketing collateral that hangs from the roof with words such as ‘get your free beach bag’ positions sun creams as the ‘holiday essential’ that every traveler needs to pack. The marketing messages and endless new brands that appear, is pretty much vomiting its messages on any shopper that happens to walk by.
HOWEVER, the huge, massive, life-risking missing link in all of this, is actually making people apply it, and why only such focus in the Summer months, what about the rest of the year? THIS is where it is all going wrong.
Since starting as an Aesthetic practitioner the amount of people coming to me for guidance and help with their main issue being damaged skin due to sun exposure is on the rise. One lady recently turned to me and said: “I wish I could write a letter to my 15-year-old self and warn her of the damage she was doing to her skin. I used to lay for endless hours in the sun with little or no protection on my skin, and look at me now, I just wish I was more careful.”
This lovely woman mentioned is having treatment for not only hypermigmentation, but also uneven skin tone and quite pronounced wrinkles, the main cause of her later-in-life issues is over-exposure to the sun.
It’s safe to say the general public across the UK are not being educated enough in skin protection. With stats such as a rise of 360% in malignant melanoma cases since the 1970’s and 14,509 new cases in a year alone in 2013, I am passionate about more being done.
Not only is the actual application of sun cream not occurring, but no-one seems to push for anyone to wear SPF on their face all year round, which is something I live by! The skin on your face is so sensitive and can be affected on even a cloudy day in old blighty. So, SPF protection is needed daily – end of!
As the younger generations break free from the dreaded school exams and whisk themselves away on their first parent-free holiday, I urge guardians everywhere to have a little chat about sun creams, sun damage, and the clear black and white figures on the rise of skin cancer.
It’s not all about the immediate effects such as red sun burnt sore skin, sun stroke and dehydration (even though this is beyond important) it is about later-in-life thinking – what damage will this do to my skin long-term, how am I potentially changing the way I look forever. These harsh thoughts need to be front of mind when you and your family lay down on that welcoming sunbed this Summer.