What Everyone Should Know About Sunscreen

With the summer quickly approaching, sunscreen is probably the most commonly used skin care product in America and around the world. Is that a good thing or bad thing?

Well, I'll begin by telling you my personal experience with sunscreens. Long story short, I always got sunburned no matter how much sunscreen I put on. Until recently I thought I simply have bad skin. I really do have troublesome skin, which is partially why I'm so interested in beauty tips, especially natural ones. Anyways, my point was that sunscreen is not a 100% protection from sunburn.

Not only does the sunscreen sometimes fail to do its job, it has also been linked to cancer development. Horrifying! So here's what happens: sunscreen blocks the rays that produce vitamin D in human bodies. Vitamin D is a very important vitamin that strengthens immune system and does a whole lot of good stuff to your body, along with fighting cancer. So, vitamin D production is stalled (because of the sunscreen). At the same time, sunscreen allows some rays to pass through, the rays that actually cause cancer activity to begin under your own skin. Now, if no sunscreen is used, then the effects just cancel each other out (vitamin D kills the cancer cells) and no cancer results. Ironically, not only does the sunscreen not protect from skin cancer, it actually promotes it!

Another thing that happens: many components of a regular sunscreen are dangerous and carcinogenic (cancer-causing) chemicals that freely enter your skin and then your bloodstream. These ingredients are commonly used in sunscreen production even though they have never been tested by the FDA.

I was shocked by this information and I honestly want to avoid use of sunscreen altogether this summer.

By the way, I read that there is an alternative way to protect skin from sunburn. I personally find it weird and I've never tried this before. Here's what I read, "... in fact, the real cause of sunburn is not merely UV exposure: It is a lack of antioxidant nutrition." The article went on to suggest regularly eating berries and carrots, which should build up a natural internal sunscreen. Supposedly, this will make the skin much less "vulnerable to DNA mutations from radiation." Weird, huh? Nevertheless, it might be worth a shot. Since I already decided to ditch my sunscreen, might as well eat a few berries/carrots everyday; I don't think it will hurt me in any way. I'll make an update post later this summer, so be sure to check back to see how my poor skin is doing :)

For more information on ill sunscreen effects click here
To see the article that I quoted in the post, click here

This Tip Worked for Catherine the Great :)

Today I accidentally learned a new beauty tip. I don't know how credible it is, but I plan to try it. Apparently, Catherine the Great (if you don't know who she was then shame on you) rubbed an ice cube against her face every morning to make her skin look younger. Hmm... interesting. So far all I could conclude is that ice would make her pores smaller, thus preventing much dirt from getting inside. Maybe there was something more to it?

At any rate, I want to try this, maybe starting tomorrow. I guess if for the next few days you don't see me complaining about my face being paralyzed, then the experiment was a success :)