Sun Damaged Skin: Avoiding skin damage from the Sun

Sun damaged skin will age more quickly and form lines and wrinkles more easily. Whether you live in the northern or southern hemisphere, protecting your skin from the effects of the sun is important.

In Winter, folks in the northern hemisphere may spend some time in the snow fields where it is just as possible to suffer the adverse effects of sun damaged skin due to overexposure to the UV-rays of the sun. Similarly, folks in the southern hemisphere who spend a lot of time outdoors without protecting themselves adequately, risk damaging their skin.

So here are a few natural skin care tips to minimize or avoid skin damage from the sun:

1. What time of day is best to be out in the sun?

The best time of day to catch some sun is between 8am and 10am. At this time of day the sun is not quite as strong as it is from lunchtime on. Choosing the early morning to be out in the sun is one way to avoid sun damaged skin. Having said that, in Australia in particular, where we have a very thin ozone layer (or virtually none at all over some regions of the east-coast), we all need to take extra care. 30-60 minutes exposure to the sun, even at this time of day is probably plenty! As soon as you feel your skin getting a warm and glowing feeling you are probably already suffering the effects of sun-burn and are risking long-term sun damage to your skin.

2. Don’t forget your sunscreen

Don’t forget to wear your sunscreen whether you are snow skiing or relaxing at the beach. Choose a natural sunscreen lotion so you do not apply potentially dangerous chemicals to your skin.

3. Wear Clothes that protect you from harmful UV-rays and over-heating

Wear a hat and cool, protective clothing when outdoors. White clothes are best because white reflects light and this helps to keep you cooler. Wear clothes made from natural materials such as cotton, to allow good airflow between your clothing and your skin. This will help the skin to evaporate perspiration and keep you cooler.

4. Drink pleanty of water - it helps you cope with the heat better.

Make sure you stay well hydrated – drink plenty of water in extreme climates. This helps to keep your body and your skin hydrated. Three litres a day is considered an average for adults. Don’t forget the kids need to stay hydrated too. Heat stress, sunstroke and dehydration can creep up on you with very unpleasant results.

5. Keep strenuous activity to a minimum on hot days.

If you’re exercising do this at the coolest times of the day –again early morning is the best or late afternoon before sunset. It is not a good idea to exercise strenuously in full sun either as this can cause over heating. Children, the elderly and people in poor health do not have well-functioning internal thermostats and over-heating can occur very rapidly indeed.

6. What to do if you get over-heated or suffer from sunburn.

If you find that you are suffering from heat stress the best thing to do is:

Cool off in the shade. Once you get home, use the following steps to help negate the effects of too much sun:

• Have a tepid bath or shower (not too cold!).
• Place a wet, cold flannel or towel on your head and neck.
• Have frequent sips of cool water.
• Rest.
• Loosen any tight clothing.
• Apply a soothing moisturiser to your skin.

If you do get sunburned: Follow the steps above and use a cooling and hydrating moisturiser to minimize sun-damaged skin.

Use natural skin care products with ingredients that will help to sooth and nourish your skin. Choose a moisturiser that contains ingredients such as Aloe vera, Geranium, Lavender, and other similar herbs and essential oils that reduce inflammation and help damaged skin to recover. Putting a few drops of Lavender oil in the bath or on a wet, cold towel or flannel also helps to reduce the effects of over-heating.

Neat Lavender oil (must be 100% pure, therapeutic grade quality) can be applied to sunburn to reduce inflammation, heat and skin damage. If you use Lavender oil for sunburn and you find it irritates your skin it probably isn’t the real thing so choose your essential oil of Lavender wisely – price is a good indication of quality in this instance.

Natural Means of Protecting Your Skin

Apart from covering your body when out in the sun, there are additional precautions you can take to protect your skin from the harmful effects of the sun.

Antioxidants:

Antioxidants include: vitamins A, C, E; selenium; coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), and alpha-lipoic acid, Green tea to mention a few. These antioxidants stabilise the free radicals formed by UVA radiation penetrating to the deeper layers of the skin. “Food for Your Skin”, is an article which will provide you with information as to which foods contain these antioxidants.

Essential Oils and Herbal Extracts:

There are several herbs, plant extracts and essential oils that will help to nourish, revitalise and to some extent help repair sun damaged skin. These include, Lavender Oil, Echinacea purpurea (herbal extract/tincture), Yellow Dock (herbal extract/tincture), Aloe vera gel (plant extract), Green tea and many others.

Water:

When you are out in the sun, increase your intake of water, as the skin uses perspiration to cool us down. This perspiration is water (mostly) and as it evaporates from our skin we need to replenish it, else we become dehydrated and the skin cannot effectively cool the blood of the body.

Using mineral water (water containing natural mineral salts) can be of additional benefit, as it contains salts, which aids the body in utilising more of the water.

Natural Skin Care Products:

Natural skin care products contain many of the essential oils and herbal extracts referred to above as well as cosmetic butters and other natural and beneficial ingredients. As such they can help to protect and nourish your skin. Good quality products provide nutrients in the form of essential oils and other plant extracts, and assist in preventing dehydration of the skin.

Natural substances such as natural vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol) combined with vitamin C, has been shown to protecting the skin (to some extent at least) from the harmful rays of the sun.

In addition, following a daily skin care regime will keep your skin healthy and vibrant, and will thus help your skin to better cope with protecting itself from the sun.

Sun damaged skin needs all the help you can give it and preventing skin damage from the sun is very important if you want to avoid premature signs of ageing your skin. Remember: Prevention is better and easier than finding a cure.