There was a time when it was considered very unfashionable for a woman to have tanned skin. The skin-beauty objective or those long-ago days was to have milky white skin, or what was called a “peaches and cream” complexion. Of course, time does change everything, and today a milky white complexion only means that it must be mid-winter.


Tan is in! And men as well as women go to great lengths to soak up enough sunrays so that their skin turns an ever darker shade of tan, and the darker the better. Tanned skin is a symbol of health, vitality, and youth today.

The problem is that exposing our skin to excessive sunrays is the single most damaging thing you can do to your skin, and it will cause premature aging of the skin. Tanned skin might be your objective today, but you need to be smart about acquiring that tan so that you don’t look old before your time.

The first thing to do is just to simply avoid being in the sun between the hours of 10 AM and 2 PM. Those are the peak sunlight hours, and the time when the sun’s rays are the strongest.

When you do go out into the sun, be certain that you have protected your skin with a sunscreen that has no less than SPF-15 rating. Research has found that very few people apply their sunscreen thick enough to get the full benefit. So slather the sunscreen on…thick!

We all love the sun’s rays, but you need to be smart about exposing your skin to the sun.

1. Stay out of the sun between 10 AM and 2 PM
2. Use a sunscreen with a rating of SPF-15 or greater, and slather on enough to do some good.

Excessive sun rays cause drying and wrinkling of the skin….not to mention a greatly increased risk of skin cancer!