Sunlight promotes the production of vitamin D and ensures that your skin produces melanin. Too much sunlight can dry out and age your skin. If you want to get a tan, you should build it up slowly and apply plenty of sunscreen. People with fair skin and freckles should be especially careful in the sun. If you do get sunburned or want to tackle your freckles, you can use a number of tips.
The effect of sunlight on the skin
Normally, sitting in the sun is healthy because sunlight promotes the formation of vitamin D in the body. In response to sunlight, the skin produces melanin and darkens. Melanin protects the underlying tissue against ultraviolet radiation, but if the skin is not yet accustomed to sunlight it will burn. The symptoms of burned skin are usually only visible after a few hours, when the skin is red and painful. With severe skin burns, blisters, fever and shock may even occur.
If skin is constantly exposed to sunlight it will dry out and wrinkle. Ultraviolet radiation causes the most damage in the deeper layers of the skin. The radiation causes sagging and wrinkling, even years later. The higher the sun is in the sky, the more intense the radiation. So stay out of the sun as much as possible during the hottest part of the day.
Other risk factors
- Height; At high altitudes the sun can penetrate more easily through the thinner air
- Snow; snow reflects sunlight
- Water; Just like snow, it reflects sunlight, causing people to burn more quickly
- Wind; wind cools the skin, so we notice too late that our skin is burning
Get a nice tan without burning
When the nice weather finally arrives, we want to be basked in the sun’s rays. There is nothing wrong with that, but be extra careful if you have sensitive and fair skin. In the beginning, do not stay in the sun for more than 15 minutes per day and increase the time by about 10 minutes at a time. Make sure that the soles of your feet do not burn, they are usually hidden in our shoes and are extra sensitive.
Source: ChadoNihi, Pixabay
UVB radiation
Avoid the sun as much as possible between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. and sunscreen should have at least a factor of 10. The latter has to do with the thinning of the ozone layer, which means that more and more harmful UVB radiation reaches the earth. Too much UVB radiation can be carcinogenic. Skin cancer is also becoming increasingly common in the Netherlands; around 25,000 to 30,000 people are affected by it every year. Moreover, too much UVB light would also promote the development of cataracts in the eye lens and also have a negative impact on our body’s defenses.
What can we do in case of sunburn?
Despite the fact that a parasol protects you from sunlight, a parasol cannot prevent the sunlight reflected from the sand on the beach. This also applies to seawater that reflects sunlight. Small children are especially sensitive to this. So apply good sunscreen. But even if you are well lubricated, it does not mean that you cannot burn, especially if you stay in the sun for a very long time. Also make sure to reapply after swimming.
Special tips if you get sunburned despite all precautions
- Rub the burned areas with a linseed paste
- Cool the burned skin with water from a plant sprayer
- Place cold compresses on the heart, head and neck
- Place cloths dipped in vinegar on the burned and painful areas
- Dip a linen cloth in strong tea and place it on the burned areas
- Apply cottage cheese on the skin; dilute the cottage cheese with sour milk or water
Sunburn and freckles
Under the influence of sunlight, the skin produces melanin and darkens, usually this happens evenly. An accumulation of pigment in the epidermis causes freckles, where the pigment distribution is not even. As a result, people with light skin, blond to reddish hair and freckles burn very quickly and the skin hardly tans at all. There are many freckles on the face, shoulders and arms. Freckles in themselves are not harmful, but people with many freckles are at greater risk of developing skin defects. Young children already get freckles and as a person gets older he will develop more freckles under the influence of sunlight. Whether someone gets many or few freckles is determined hereditarily.
Most people who have freckles are not happy about this at all, yet freckles are considered one of the seven beauties. But if you are not happy with your sun spots and want to make them less noticeable, you can use:
Cold covers
Boil ½ liter of milk and add 100 grams of horseradish. When the mixture has cooled, strain it. Make wraps of this every evening, let the mixture dry and remove the remains the next morning.
A lemon
To do this, take a lemon and cut it in half. Press the cut surface firmly against the freckles so that the juice runs out and let the juice dry. Do this three times a day.
