By BR Kellie
Living in a country where the sun is fierce and sunburn can turn deadly over time we know how important it is to apply sunblock before we head out into the sun. We slap it on our face, our arms, chest, back of the neck, shoulders, and leftovers get rubbed onto the backs of our hands. But are we sunblocking everywhere we should? It's easy to miss a few spots, but missing them could lead to a world of pain, and regret. So what areas of our body should we pay extra care to apply sunscreen to?
Have you ever had the sides of your armpits burn after heading out in a tank top for the day or hitting the beach or pool in a swimsuit? It's really painful. Especially when you have to wear a top for the sake of decency, and every bit of fabric rubbing on skin sends you into agonies. Avoiding this owwie is easy, just be sure to spread that sunscreen around and under the areas of your side arm/chest where it's exposed to sun. And be sure to dip that 'screen down a little lower too in case your top or swimsuit moves, exposing un-blocked flesh.
You know what hurts? Sunburnt lips. Two decades ago I had the extreme pain of discovering this for myself. Not only did they burn, they blistered. Super ickly. Super unpretty. Now applying actual sunscreen to your lips isn't the most appealing idea as I've yet to meet a sunscreen that tastes good - thankfully you don't have to. All you need is to grab a lip balm with a goodly amount of SPF in it, like Blistex, and remember to reapply it throughout the day.
Speaking of tips. Your ears are another spot that need to be sunblocked - especially if you're not wearing a wide-brimmed hat. So when you're doing your daily facial application of sunscreen, make sure you pay your ears some attention - even that delightful back of the ear crevasse area where kids have been known to grow potatoes.
You know what's annoying about tank tops and bra straps and swimsuit straps? They have a tendency to move. Which is why when you're applying sunscreen it's not enough to just apply it to the areas where you think the sun will reach, it's important to go under those areas too - basically if there's a chance your skin will be bared, then be sure to smear!
How often have you sunblocked your thighs, the backs of your knees and down your legs, but forgot to do the tops of your feet? There's nothing pretty about bright red jandal-shaped marks on feet. And once you've got them you won't want to be popping your tootsies into normal shoes, because the pain is real. Next time you're heading out in jandals or sandals remember to get foot loose and fancy free with your sunscreen and take it all the way down to tips of your toes.
Finally, we need to talk about your scalp. (And does anyone else hate that word as much as me? It gives me that nails on chalk board shivery feeling). If you're rocking a solid part in your hair the sun's going to hit your scalp. If you haven't brought your sunscreen up into the hairline because you don't want it to ruin your 'do', the sun will hit your scalp. Burnt scalps are less than ideal... luckily there's such a thing as powdered sunscreen, which can be applied to your scalp to keep it safe from the sun.
So do tell... have you been stung by the sun before? What areas have you forgotten to put sunblock on when you really needed to? And remember, in a country like ours which has such a high rate of skin cancer, sharing really is caring.
I try to be careful but I find because I love being outside and gardening I get burnt on top of my arms and back as although I use sunscreen it needs topping up and I usually get busy and forget.I have really thick hair so luckily have never had scalp burn although my poor partner has to worry about his poor scalp all the time.