Check It Out!

If I'm preachy about one thing, it's taking care of your skin in the sun. May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month and it's a good time to just get all this information out there. Now, there has been a lot of back and forth about sunscreen, vitamin D, and general hubbub about the suns effects on your skin. The fact of the matter is, excessive and repeated exposure to UVA/UVB radiation mutates your genes resulting in skin cancer. It's NO JOKE. Cancers like melanoma don't even have to manifest itself in place that regularly see the sun (bottoms of feet, scalp, nether regions). Your dermatologist doesn't just exist to give you Botox or give you Accutane; you need to see them yearly to check everything (I mean everything) for signs of skin cancer. I know my generation was and still is obsessed with being tan and I remember going with my mom to the local tanning salon to get brown for prom and going to the beach four days a week all summer without a lick of sunscreen. I WAS STUPID, but that doesn't mean that I can't do something about it now. I am now an avid fake-tanner, sunscreen slatherer, hat wearer, umbrella toting good-girl when in the sun. There are so many ways to protect yourself from the sun; it never hurts to ask your dermatologist what are the best ways to protect yourself. My sun care routine involves the following:

What's Normal and What Isn't

The ABCD's of detection: 

Asymmetry: does it look like a circle, or is it wonky?

Border: like asymmetry, is the border even or varied?

Color: one shade, OK. Two shades, get it looked at.

Diameter: Bigger than a pencil eraser= get it looked at

Sorry for the gross picture, but a visual guide is always a good thing to have. Again, self-diagnosis won't do anything but make you crazy. Go to your dermatologist if you have ANY concerns!

What can you do to keep the sun off

1. Sunscreen! Mineral, chemincal, I figure as long as you wear it you're better off. The difference between the two is a mineral or physical sunblock immediately blocks you from the sun because the sun protection comes form micro milled minerals covering your skin like a barrier. That's why they tend to look really white when you put them on. I always use a mineral sunscreen on my face because it's non-irritating. Here are some of my favorites:

Skinceuticals Physical Fusion UV Defense (for face)

Coola Mineral Sport SPF 35 (body)

Shiseido Extra Smooth Sun Protection Lotion (for face and body)

Chemical sunscreens contain ingredients that have a chemical reaction with your skin (takes 15 minutes), that scatters UVA/UVB radiation instead of reflecting it like the mineral ones. This is the most widely available kind because the synthetic chemicals are cheaper to make than mining for minerals (not a Starcraft reference). I like to use mineral sunscreens, but chemical ones are easier for me to find and not so hard on my debit card. Here are some of my favorites:

Sun Bum SPF50 Moisturizing Sunscreen

 

 

Australian Gold SPF 30 Spray Gel with Bronzer

There are sooo many ways to keep yourself safe in the sun. This will be a sort of ongoing series for the month since I've already created what might be my longest post. The important thing is that you can still have fun outside, you just need to be safe about it!I spend as much time as I can at the beach, but I suncreen up before I go and use other measures to make sure I don't end up a wrinkly old hag in 10 years. I've seen some of the girls I went to high school with who tanned religiously and they look so old! I want to be forever young!

Fake Bake: My Favorite Sunless Tanners

Fake Bake: My favorite sunless tanners by elbonner featuring dr dennis gross skincare

Benefit bronze makeup / Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare dr dennis gross skincare / Xen Tan sun care, $47 / St Tropez beauty product, $52 / Xen Tan beauty product, $25 / Chocolate Sun Cocoa Glow Sunless Tanning Cream | Spirit Beauty Lounge

I love sunless tanners. All of my friends know that I am the sultan of sunless tans.I have triedsomany that I could have bought a small condo with the money I've spent on the stuff. I am very fair: freckles, blonde hair, blue eyes, visible veins, the works. My skin also likes to turn anything I put on it orange, which is never good, but I've found a few things that don't make me look like burnt macaroni and cheese. 

My favorite "I need to look super dark" product is Xen-Tan's Dark Lotion Absolute Luxe. This stuff has the most DHA of any other lotion assuring you the darkest tan you can get at home. Though I was worried I'd look like an offensive vaudeville act after using it, it was surprisingly natural looking. It gave me a tan I could only achieve by not wearing sunscreen ever. The face tanner is the only face tanner I use. It's not greasy and it doesn't look dirty and gross. No Nutella stained face here!

My second favorite is actually a bronzer. When I don't want to tan my face or I use a lighter tanning formula, I forgo any sunless tanner on my face and use Benefit's Hula bronzer. It's matte, it's dark, but not orange. It's a lovely chocolatey brown color that works on almost all skin tones. 

My favorite lighter formula sunless tanner is Chocolate Sun's Cocoa Glow. This stuff smells like cookies and is all natural, great for people with sensitive skin that can't handle things like Xen-Tan. I actually have this stuff on right now and it's not greasy and soaks in really quickly. This comes in three shades, one for everyone!

My favorite bargain sunless tanner is from Australian Gold. It's like $8 and does the job. This one isn't quite as olive-y going one, but the color is decent for the price. It also keeps your skin moisturized which is hard to find in a sunless tanner since they tend to dry you out. 

For exfoliation and tanning in one stop I grab Dr. Dennis Gross's Alpha Beta Glow Pads. They're available for face and body and leave you not only tan. but glowy and soft. It's really the best of both worlds! I use these when I'm feeling lazy and don't want to have to scrub down every inch of my body.

Last, but not least, my favorite mousse formula is from St. Tropez. This is a celebrity favorite because it's fast, natural and almost never streaks. It have an olive-brown color which tells you what you've covered and what you've missed and soaks in immediately so you're not sweating after you've covered yourself in tanner. I find mousse formulas to be best when I'm going to bed and might get hot. The fact that it soaks in quickly makes it harder to rub off on things. In the morning you shower and wash the color guide off and it looks like you've spent a week at the beach!

I've noticed that with sunless tanners, it's really personal preference. I also occasionally use Mystic tan HD when I'm really pressed for time or just don't feel like rubbing in a bunch of lotion. I've also noticed that the more olive-brown the tanner is, the better the outcome. I hope this helps keep you dark and sexy into the fall and winter and more apt to wear sunscreen in the summer. Stay brown!