The views expressed in this post are those of 3 Lil Ladies n Me and ours alone. See full Disclosure.

Part One in the Skin Series

Summer is finally here! What Is the one thing we should focus on right away? sunscreen!! With the “very welcome” warmer weather comes a lot of sunshine and Vitamin D.  However, that extra sunshine and Vitamin D can also wreak havoc on your skin. With not just the obvious painful, stinging sunburn but also with pre-mature aging.    Being a Dermatology nurse for 14 + years I’ve heard countless times “Is my sun protection a good one?” “What SPF to use?” “Is it safe for babies?”…I am going give some helpful tips and recommendations of what I use with my own family on a daily basis.  So, the BIG question… What is the best kind of sunscreen to use ?!?!

You want these 2 active ingredients in all your sunscreen, Zinc Oxide and or Titanium Dioxide…Just an FYI, The Zinc Oxide has come a long way…its now micronized now so you won’t have a white face!!! Sunscreens with these ingredients are considered a “physical blocker” because they sit on top of the skin to deflect damaging UV rays from the skin. Even though these sunscreens “sit” on the skin, most of them are non-comedogenic (won’t clog pores).

Now that we’ve discussed ingredients, lets talk SPF or Sun Protection Factor.   Basically the number of SPF measures the protection from UVB rays.  UVB being the kind of rays that cause sunburn and also contribute to skin cancer.  The UVA rays are your aging rays that gives us those lovely little expression lines on our face (Insert extreme sarcasm) You know the lines that make men look distinguished while making us ladies look well…aged.   When It comes to picking an SPF for body or face you want at least 35 or higher for good protection.  Now, a word to the wise.  It will tell you on the bottle to re-apply after 2 hours…this is important because recommended amount to apply (per studies) is a golf ball sized amount.  YES, a golf ball sized amount.  I don’t know about you but, I don’t have the time, energy, or skin mass to apply a golf ball sized amount of sunscreen.   What about our face? Especially talking about the ladies who… Hello, wear makeup!!  I’m not about to remove my makeup every two hours to re-apply sunscreen and I definitely wouldn’t recommend that to you. (Got your back ladies ?) Most moisturizers  and makeup now contain some type of SPF, YAH!!! an added bonus to the original SPF with Zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. Now that is something I definitely can get behind re-applying every two hours!!   last but not least please please please REMEMBER…even though its cloudy, you can and will get a sunburn without sunscreen!!!!!!!

Soooo, if your anything like me…soon youll be chasing your munchkins at the local spray park or hubby around the golf course with all that SUNSCREEN!!

As Always Enjoy!!

☀(Below you will find a list of some of my fav’s that I have personally used and recommended.)☀.

1. Cerave AM Moisturizing sunscreen

2. Blue Lizard Sunscreen/. Blue Lizard Baby Sunscreen

3. Neutrogena Sunscreen (with Helioplex)

4. Elta MD Sunscreen (Clear/Daily)