The golden rule of the skincare fanatic, the tenet that is more important than washing your skin, drinking water, or moisturising, is that wearing sunscreen is a necessity.

While skincare fans would scream in horror if you told them that you didn’t at least cleanse, tone, treat, and moisturise your skin at least once a day, (myself included), these are things that we can let slide in comparison to the bigger issues of the world. We have all been naïve teenagers, using the strongest tea tree oil available for purchase to burn your spots off as if they were warts, scraping off a layer of the worst, most orange foundation with a non-recyclable, pungent face wipe, and then not even bothering to moisturise your scrubbed-raw skin afterwards. It wasn’t great, of course, but you weren’t doing that much harm in the grand scheme of things. However, if there is one thing you must not skip or scrimp on, one thing that can really dictate your future health, it’s sunscreen.

Cancer Research UK report that within the last decade, almost 17,000 people per year discovered that they had melanoma.  There were  ‘2,341 Deaths from melanoma skin cancer’ between the years of 2017 and 2019. The biggest tragedy of this is that 86% of people with melanoma could have prevented developing this disease by implementing methods of sun safety. Cancer Research UK also state that melanoma of the skin (the body’s largest and most exposed organ) can also lead to the spreading of this cancer to other organs in the body, such as the ‘lungs’, ‘liver’, ‘bones’, and ‘brain’. This might all sound very dramatic and scary, but the reality is that it is.

Experts say that you should add SPF 50 to your skin care year-round, even on cloudy days and during the winter. The best time to apply your sunscreen is after cleansers, toners, serums, and moisturisers, but before you apply any makeup. Some foundations will have a lower SPF incorporated into their formulation, so this can be a great way to get two applications into your beauty regime. My preferred sunscreen is Boots’ Soltan Once, (although I definitely apply this more than once a day during the summer months). I have been sticking to this sunscreen because it avoids the ‘white cast’ that many sunscreens can give, instead giving a natural look without it looking like you are even wearing it.

Not only will an SPF 50, (and yes, it has to be at least SPF 50), help to protect you from cancer, it will also prevent your face from ageing prematurely. The NHS recommends that an effective sunscreen will include ‘at least 4-star UVA protection’ and will also advertise protection against UVB rays. And, of course, the best way to make the most of your sunscreen’s potential effectiveness is to re-apply every couple of hours, especially if you are in the sun during the afternoon.

In my experience, the more often that you use sunscreen consistently and effectively, the more naturally it will integrate into your routine. It has come to the point now where my skin feels wrong if I leave the house without sunscreen, as if it were having a shower or brushing my teeth. In also feel like my skin has never looked so good, and it feels moisturised and rich.

It will take you a bit of time to find a sunscreen that is best for your own skin type, but the most important thing is that you’re wearing it. Not only will you be investing in your skin, you’ll be investing in your health.

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