As a child my mom often used me as her guinea pig trying out new trends on my hair. Since it was the 80’s, you can imagine the styles; for the most part, I rocked a boy cut. I played a lot of sports and was frequently mistaken for the opposite sex. Thank goodness that’s all done and over with.

Although her hair choices weren’t ideal, my mama always knew what was good. Growing up in Libya, I was always playing under the sun at the beach. My mom knew she couldn’t control me once I saw the waves, so she always made sure I wore sunscreen all over my body before putting on my bathing suit.

We all know that we need to wear it, but what is SPF anyway?

SPF stands for sun protection factor and its purpose is to determine how long a person can stay outside without burning. Let’s say you picked up a SPF 15 sunscreen lotion, the SPF 15 means that if you usually start to burn after 10 minutes under the sun, once applied you can safely enjoy the sun for 150 minutes. Multiply your SPF factor by 10 to determine how long you can be outside without any pain. In other words, that person can stay out in the sun 15 times longer; SPF puts off the burn.

This is a question I get all the time: “Can I still get a tan if I use sun protection?”

Of course! SPF prevents your skin from burning, not tanning. You still get a tan, but it’s slowed down. Many people think that their burn will turn into a tan, but the burn actually fades away quickly. To get a nicely bronzed tan, use a tanning lotion with bronzer and an SPF in it. Anything with carrot and banana extracts will give you a nice tanned glow. So remember to re-apply your SPF every hour if you are going into the pool. Value your skin and tan safely.

*Image credit: http://blog.brazilianbikinishop.com