Summer Beauty Style

Your long-term beauty style depends in large part on exposure to the sun. In summer, when the sun is at its fiercest, it’s crucial to protect your skin safely and consistently.

Most Americans are now aware of the sun’s harmful effects: wrinkles, spots, sunburn, and skin cancer. When it comes to your looks, there’s no denying that the sun speeds aging and that avoiding facial exposure will keep it looking younger longer. No amount of moisturizer will undo the damage from that weekend sunburn, so take care to cover up with a wholesome, safe sunscreen, and a hat if you’re at the beach or in direct sun for extended periods.

Most people are aware of the need for sun protection, yet the most deadly skin cancer, melanoma, is on the rise, with diagnosed cases increasing each year. The reason for this is unclear, but some health advocates believe that it’s due to certain toxic ingredients found in the most widely used sunscreens. More likely, it’s because people don’t use enough sunscreen, don’t apply it often enough, or choose a sunscreen that blocks only UVB radiation, and not also the more dangerous UVA radiation.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG), my favorite go-to source for information about this sort of stuff, offers a sunscreen guide that gauges sunscreen effectiveness and evaluates the safety of ingredients. One controversial ingredient, oxybenzone, has a high risk of causing cellular and biochemical changes, according to the EWG. The EWG website (ewg.org) lists the safest, most effective sunscreens and also has a tool for looking up sunscreens and seeing how they rate.

People who supplement sunscreen protection with clothing or hats seem to get fewer sunburns than those who rely solely on sun block. The research shows that avoiding sunburn and tanning beds plays a role in reducing your risk of skin cancer. Studies also have shown that adequate vitamin D levels help to prevent skin cancer, so a limited amount of sun exposure to stimulate your natural production of vitamin D is recommended for optimal health.

The bottom line for your summer sun beauty? Get some sun, but limit your exposure. Use a safe sunscreen (see the resources section at the back of this book for a guide), apply it often, and cover up, too.

Vitamin D
Summer sun can boost your immune system and mood, as well as help you prevent deadly diseases, if you approach it safely. Sunshine boosts your body’s production of vitamin D.
Most doctors are now testing their patients for low vitamin D levels for good reason. The sunshine vitamin, as vitamin D is sometimes called, is actually produced in your body through a complex process that begins with natural sunlight on your skin. Get plenty of sunshine and you make plenty of vitamin D. Unfortunately, most of us don’t get enough sun. In the colder weather, the sun isn’t very strong, the days are short, and we’re mostly indoors out of the cold. Even in warmer weather, we spend a lot of time during the day indoors. We’re at work, at school, commuting, or staying inside in the air conditioning. Combine that with fear of skin cancer and heavy use of sun blockers, and it’s easy to see how a lot of us end up on the low side for vitamin D.

That’s a problem, because low vitamin D levels are associated with many health problems. You need plenty of vitamin D to maintain strong bones, keep your immune system strong, reduce your risk of cancer (especially colon cancer and breast cancer), keep your blood pressure down, and help prevent heart disease. Vitamin D can boost your serotonin, one of the feel-good chemicals your brain produces, so it may help relieve depression and anxiety.

Vitamin D can boost your serotonin, one of the feel-good chemicals your brain produces, so it may help relieve depression and anxiety.

Ask your doctor to check your vitamin D levels with a simple blood test called the 25-hydroxy test. A surprising number of people, even those who are outdoors a fair amount, are on the low side. Optimally, you want your level to be between 50 and 70 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml). It is possible to have too much vitamin D, so you don’t want your level to go over 100 ng/ml. People who are indoors a lot, who live in northern regions without a lot of sunshine, and who are overweight are at greater risk for being deficient.

The best way to boost your vitamin D level is to get sunshine on your skin for about twenty minutes a day, preferably between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., when the sun is brightest. That’s not always possible, of course—and I don’t recommend tanning beds. Few foods have a lot of natural vitamin D in them. It’s mostly found in egg yolks and oily fish, such as salmon, mackerel, tuna, and sardines. There’s also some in cheese, but most people get their vitamin D from milk, which by law has vitamin D added to it. It’s also added to some breakfast cereals and orange juice, but that cereal is processed and the orange juice isn’t really fresh. The milk is most likely not organic, so these are not the healthiest ways to solve this problem.

If you don’t eat these foods—and even if you do—consider taking vitamin D supplements in the form of vitamin D3, also called cholecalciferol. This is the form your body absorbs best.
Your body can store vitamin D, but even if you get a lot of summer sun, it’s probably not enough to carry you through into the winter. A supplement is a good idea for backup. In the warm weather, I walk out of my office each day at lunchtime to turn my head to the sun.