Beach Beauty

Too much exposure to the sun on beach may cause under-eye skin crinkles, blackheads and acne on nose, cold lip sores, red and scaly temples and broken blood vessels. To avoid these unwanted signs of old age, be sure to use moisturizers and sunscreens or sun blocks that suit your skin type and never forget to wear UV-protected sunglasses and hat to a beach. Today other beauty products with SPF are also available in the market such as concealers and lipsticks. You can use waterproof and water-resistant eyeliners, mascaras and bronzers to look like a glamorous mermaid too. Contrary to the popular belief, tanning is not safe for skin and may cause skin burning, wrinkles and skin cancer.

One must remember that sun can damage the skin within a few minutes and can harm the skin on apparently cloudy days. The sun can damage the skin even more at higher altitudes and on an average at every 1,000-foot height can damage the skin by 4 % more. You can calculate how frequently to apply your sunscreen on the beach by multiplying its SPF number (which determines the protection against burning by UVB rays) with 20 (which incidentally is the number of minutes skin can endure sun), so SPF 15 should stay on for about 300 minutes or five hours. However, this is not exactly correct or swimming and sweating can wash off your sunscreen and you may need to reapply it after 60 to 90 minutes. To block off UVA rays, check the ingredients for avobenzone, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, Parsol 1789, butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane or Mexoryl SX.

Sunscreens come in water resistant formulas that are sure to stay on for 90 minutes even if your are swimming. Lip-glosses with SPF are quite effective in preventing dried sun burned lips while liquid foundation and eye shadows are sure to wash out with first few perspiration drops. Cocoa butter is great at preventing peeling and to re-moisturizing the skin while eye drops are a great help in case some sand particles reach your eyes with the wind. Deodorants or antiperspirants, beach wear and two towels are a must of course, one to lie down on one to dry you off. You may also need a beach mat or beach blanket and be sure to wear flat and sneakers to make walking easier.