Sun Being Bad For You

I've been wearing SPF on my face everyday since I was 12 years old.  My mom gave me an Oil of Olay bottle of SPF moisturizer with a stern warning to use it everyday.  And since then... I may have strayed a few days here and there, but for the most part, my face is always, at a minimum, shielded by SPF 25.

Summers growing up when I became extremely tan, my mom would yell at me for being too dark.  "Are you using enough sunblock?!" she'd ask over and over and over again.  Slowly over time.. the disgust for sun kissed darkness grew on me.  Though I shunned Darth Vader visors, umbrellas in the sun, and never put gloves on while driving (all of which my mom still does), I was afraid of the sun, but not just anywhere... only particularly on my face.  I hated the idea of a super tan complexion on my face, my body - I cared not so much.  I'd put a hand towel over my face if I was ever relaxing on the beach.  I'd seek out comfort in the shade whenever possible and of course I had my strict skin care regiment that consisted of whitening face wash, whitening face cream, and whitening face masks.

said visor for sale! get your visors now!!!

And then one day, I was thirty and driving my then only child around in our van, and I suddenly had the instinctive reaction to seek out a shirt to wear over my arms which were being exposed to the sun.  It happened without warning.  It happened without thought.  It happened without reason.  It just happened.

I had turn into my mom.  Suddenly, the thought of age spots on my arms from years to come of chauffeuring my kids and their friends around became a much closer and fathomable reality.  Suddenly, the realization that the sun was bad for me sunk in even deeper and I sought out refuge in the form of sun protection.  I had indeed turned into the scared of the sun maniac my mom had been all those years and I understood why she had done it.  I understood the Darth Vader visor.  I understood the umbrella in the sun.  I understood the arm covers whilst driving.  I understood it all too well.

ever wonder why Asian babies always have hats on them?  question answered.

People often wonder why Asians age so well.  They say it might be genetic, but I know the truth.  They are SPF crazies and sun haters.

ask my husband, I won't go to any amusement park without a hat, even if it doesn't match