Monday, July 9, 2007

Yes, You Should Wear Sunscreen!

I know you don't wanna. You're saying to me right now, "but I'm brown. I've been blessed with melanin. I already look several years younger than my age, and my granmama ain't never had no real wrinkles like that!"

Au Contraire, mis amis (if that's not spelled right, I only took one semester of French and got a C). black people get skin cancer too. Plus just because I don't have wrinkles now, doesn't mean I'll never get 'em!

I consider myself a connoisseur of sunscreens. Most of them ain't worth a damn. They leave your skin feeling greasy, or looking chalky, or they just have a funny smell. Below are my picks for the best and worst sunscreens for face & body for darker skins:

No Ad SPF 30 - $6.39 - $9.49, drugstore.com. I Love this stuff. It's not heavy or greasy, it makes you smell like the beach, and your skin actually feels moisturized and not just sun-protected! My favorite thing about this product is the size of the bottle. Most sunscreen products only give you 4 ounces. The magazines tell us we need to put on 1 ounce over your entire body. If that's true and you use sunscreen over your whole body consistently, then you're constantly buying tiny ass tubes of sunscreen. At least No Ad will last you for a long time!

Sage Advice Skin Care, SPF 25 $16.00, www.zerozits.com - This is my holy grail sunscreen. Their SPF 25 is the best sunscreen I've ever used on my face. You can wear it under any moisturizer and it works with all the foundations I've ever used in conjunction with it. No ash, no chalk and it's water proof. It may be more than you want to spend on a sunblock, but that 4 ounce bottle will last you through several months even if you use it every day.






And now the worst...

Neutrogena Fresh Cooling Body Mist Sunblock, SPF 30, $8.99, drugstore.com - I had high hopes for this product. First of all you need a mask over your face before you spray it because the fumes are more powerful than spray paint. Even if you do get past that part, the oily texture it leaves on your skin is not suitable for every day use. Maybe it's better suited for the beach where there is a breeze and you're not concerned with your clothes getting greasy!


Until next time, y'all!