The summer season is in and everyone wants to have that golden, sun-kissed hue. But before basking and staying under the sun all day, you must remember that exposure is damaging to your skin. The sun is the number one cause of premature aging and skin cancer. You don’t want to end up all dark and wrinkly way before you hit your thirties!

It’s been proven that SPF or Sun Protection Factor is the most effective way to fight skin aging. SPF rates the level of sunblock protection you get from various sunscreen products.

Use sunscreens with an SPF of 15 or higher, not just this summer season but year-round. Harmful UV rays penetrate the atmosphere on a daily basis, that’s why you don’t have to go sunbathing to experience its damages. Now that you’ve been warned, protect yourself!

Since tanning is the actual darkening of the skin’s outer layers, you don’t want to overdo it and go through the early stages of skin burn. To maintain the protection level, reapply sunscreen every twenty minutes no matter how high the SPF you use.

Other precautions that could lessen your skin’s risk of sun damage should also be practiced when going on a trip to the beach. Try to avoid the sun during the window time of 11 am till 2 pm. This is the period when the sun’s UV rays are usually at its strongest.

Remember that UV rays can still penetrate the water to depths of up to nine feet. Clouds also don’t block the sun’s rays as much, stopping only as little as 20 percent of the harmful rays.

Preferably have on light-colored swim wear or loose-fitting clothes as these also decrease the impact of the sun’s rays on your skin. Now is also the time to complete your summer getup with a wide-rimmed hat and a pair of UV protected sunglasses.

Tanning is not entirely risk-free. You can achieve the perfect tan, but without knowing, may have also incurred some negative side effects to your skin. Some consider getting a fake tan at the nearest tanning salon.

But the use of tanning beds has been proven unhealthy and further increases the risk of skin cancer. Compared to getting a tan under the sun, more layers of skin are damaged when under a tanning bed. Still, people flock tanning salons to instantly get the tanned look. They could effortlessly control the level of UV rays they want their skin to receive and they won’t easily get sunburned.

If you’re still wanting that bronze color, what better way than to apply self-tanners. A lot of these products are available in the market and have undergone improvements and product testing, so they are generally safer to use. These come in the form of gels, sprays or lotions where you can choose the exact shade of tan that would best suit you. Getting the perfect tan is also easy to attain using self tanners.

First you must exfoliate so the tanner could go into your skin more evenly. Remove moisture from your body, as the tanner comes out blotchy on wet spots. Smooth it out in upward directions all over your body, except for the chest area where you could try horizontal strokes to even out the tan. Let it dry for a short twenty or so minutes, and you’ll look like you’ve been on a beach holiday for weeks!