Everyone knows that they should be wearing SPF every day, but in all honesty, I kind of get why it’s such a difficult cause to get behind. With the way that it feels on the skin and formulas that seem to aggravate breakouts, being willing to apply SPF every day when you can’t physically see the damage that the sun is causing is quite an accomplishment. With that being said, I do apply it every day (gold star for me), and I will continue to harp on about the importance of doing so, even if my nagging falls on deaf ears. So yes, avoiding daily SPF application, come rain or shine, is logic I can sort of reason with.
However, I absolutely draw the line at skipping SPF for a day spent sunbathing. And yes, this is far more common than you might think it is. During the recent heatwave, I saw countless comments on social media spreading the message that we should all be frolicking outside in bikinis sans sun cream to get our vitamin D levels back up post-lockdown easing. And this is the sort of reasoning I hear a lot when discussing the importance of SPF to friends. Some common rebuttal from said friends includes: “But just think about how healthy your skin starts looking when you’re on holiday,” and “What about rickets?” and “I’m feeling sad and think I need some more vitamin D, so I’m going to skip sun cream today.”
If there’s anything this recent heatwave has taught me, it’s that a huge amount of people think this way. In fact, so many people think it that I started doubting my own beliefs. In a bid to clear up some confusion, I reached out to a whole bunch of medical experts and skin specialists, and this is what they all had to say.
