Sunscreen on My Shoulders

I’ll be the first to admit that I have not been a frequent user of sunblock/sunscreen.  During my school days, when I took up swimming and life-saving, for some reason, I wanted to have dark skin.  Not tanned, but dark.  I especially LOVED the patterns created when I wore swimsuits with unique strap patterns.  The parts covered by the swimsuit would be fair and my exposed skin would be a lovely tanned shade.  Yeah, call me crazy if you will.

My obsession with having patterns on my body has since passed, and surprise, surprise, I began to get fairer and fairer.  But up till now, I have never been attracted by skin-whitening products and such.  Okay, maybe you could argue that I am rather fair to begin with, but I would never buy a skincare product solely for making me fairer.  I still would not mind being tanned (and actually am considering going to one of those tanning salons, too.  But that’s a story for another day)

Anyway, my first perception of sunscreen or sunblock was that it was to be used ONLY when I go swimming.  When I was introduced to using sunblock on my face, I tried it, but I only persisted for a few weeks.  It made my skin feel oily and I felt like I was going to breakout any moment.  Plus, I didn’t really like the smell of it, and when something is on my face the entire day, it had better smell nice or not smell at all. 🙂

So I stopped.

But now I’m starting to re-educate myself on the importance of sunscreen/sunblock.  It’s not just a matter of vanity, it’s a matter of health.  Having sufficient sunscreen/sunblock on one’s skin is essential to block out harmful rays from the sun that could potentially cause cancer.  Of course, it also helps slow down the aging process and prevents pigmentation, but to me, the most important reason for using sun protection is to protect our skin.

So I’m on the hunt for the most suitable sun protection for my face and body now.  I just finished a sachet of one of L’oreal’s sunscreen not too many days ago, and am now using a small sample tube of Dermalogica’s Solar Defense Booster SPF30.

While I’m at it, I decided to start my kids on sun protection too.  I got them a tube long time ago (mainly for use when swimming), but I too didn’t like the smell on that one.  So I got hubby to bring this new one back all the way from the States.  Could not find any suitable one for my kids here.

So far so good.  Ethan has been raving about it, saying that he loves it SO much because it is SO cooling and refreshing.  And I love it that it is totally SCENT-FREE and not sticky at all.  But what am I going to do when this runs out?

Are you an avid sunblock/sunscreen user?  If so, I want to hear from you: what are you using that is effective and what’s not?  Do you use a separate one for face and body?

Do you use sun protection on your kids, and if so, what do you use?  Kids definitely do not like sticky formulas, so it is essential to get something suitable for them.

If you are a guy, do you use sun protection at all?  I find that there aren’t too many formulas specially created for men.  It’s equally important for men to use sunscreen/sunblock but how many guys do that?