Sunburns are extremely unpleasant and undesirable appearances during one of a few relaxing periods of the year we call holiday. Thankfully, they can be easily prevented. All you have to do is to follow these simple rules.
Have a few brief sunbaths
People live on different parallels, where the sun is weaker than on the vacation destinations in most cases. A few brief sunbathes to prepare your skin (during early morning or late afternoon hours) before you set off to your holiday would do very nicely.
Use multiple sun protection factors (SPF)
Although you have already acquired a bronze shade, it’s still far from impossible not to get burnt, especially if you are on the beach during early afternoon. To prevent this, you should apply at the beginning, let’s say, a sunscreen with the SPF 30 or higher, and reapply after approximately two hours. After a couple of days, your skin should be well prepared, and you can start using SPF 15, which allows additional photons to penetrate your skin, to increase the blackening rate. A couple of days afterwards, you might start using a sunscreen with minimal SPF, depending on the time of the year and how bronze you got, but it’s up to you to estimate.
Keep in mind, though, that skin needs time to absorb the sunscreen and it will wash up quickly if you have it applied just before entering the water. Since sun rays penetrate the water, it would leave you completely unprotected. Give your skin up to half an hour to absorb the sunscreen.
How much protection is offered by a parasol?
It depends. Always pay attention to how thick fabrics are, both in the store and when you rent one on the beach. If your silhouette is clearly visible when you step under the parasol, you might wish to consider another one, especially if you are at the beginning of your vacation. Your author got burnt badly once when not paying attention to that, and tended its sunburns till the end of the vacation.
Additional points
Best times of the day for bathing and sunbathing activities are the morning and late afternoon. Although bathing is most alluring during the early afternoon (between 12:00 and 17:00), when the heat is especially intense, it’s much easier to earn the sunburns then.
Also, don’t be deceived by the wind that decreases the heat. The sun still burns intensely.