BoomerGirl Diary

I am not a sun worshiper. Not that I haven’t tried; I have, only to suffer some nasty burns. But golden skin eludes me. There is a benefit to this, though, despite being called Casper or having pasty white legs. I have very little sun damage.

Notice, however, I did not say "no sun damage." Alas, I do have brown spots and freckles on my chest and back and hands, nothing that really bothers me too much, at least right now. Having said that, however, after seeing my friend Eva’s perfect skin, with nary a brown spot on it at 40 years old, and not wanting any more marks myself, I had to ask what her secret was.

“Sunscreen” she said. “Everyday, face, neck and hands.”

This was nothing I hadn’t heard before. Indeed, sunscreen is touted everywhere as the simplest thing one can wear to guard against damage caused by the sun. Unfortunately for me, it is the one thing I always forget. But after seeing Eva’s skin, I vowed to incorporate it into my daily skin care routine.

But which one should I use? A quick perusal of the drug store shelf made my eyes glaze over, and, being the slightly impatient person I am, I decided I needed to do some research at home rather than read every label of every product there. My information gathering led me to conclude to choose a sunscreen with the new FDA approved ingredient Mexoryl. Why Mexoryl? In a nutshell, it provides almost perfect protection against the sun by blocking the UVA rays that are most associated with melanomas. That was enough for me.

In the end, I chose to purchase La Roche-Posey Anthelios 15 from CVS.; other brands that contain Mexoryl include Lancome and Vichy. It was a bit pricey, around $25, but I must say, worth every penny. It absorbs quickly, is not heavy, and does not have that sunscreen smell. Perfect. Now if I could just turn back the clock….