please wear sunscreen!!! I've seen "fuck the beauty industrial complex" posts about complicated skincare regimens and am 100% with them except sometimes they mention sunscreen and no. no. absolutely not. sunscreen is a wonderful supportive friend who wants to keep you safe, and you should let her do it. throw out all your other cosmetics and skincare products if you want, but keep your sunscreen. and if you're not wearing sunscreen, start wearing it!!!! this is not about terror of aging, this is not about every tiny imperfection our fucked-up culture has made you feel insecure about, this is about protecting yourself from skin cancer. wear the damn sunscreen.
Other things you can do to protect your skin, if you need more options that aren't just: "sunscreen is evil and you'll be fine if you just eat watermelon" (I have no idea how people even came up with that nonsense)
long, loose clothing that covers as much of your skin as possible
Sunhat, preferably a *big* sunhat
Closed shoes I know it seems like sandal weather but the less of your skin is in direct sunlight the better it'll be
Stay in the shade as much as physically possible.
Stay inside when the sun as at it's worst
You can use an umbrella as , like, a personal parasol to keep yourself in the shade (got this from Uyen Ninh on youtube)
If you find regular sunscreen uncomfortable and greasy I find a lot of the spray ones can be more comfortable . like , please do wear sunscreen, but also, remember, there are things people did to deal with the sun before sunscreen was invented and they were not "assume it'll all be fine and go out unprotected" , so if there is something preventing you from getting sunscreen (or if you keep getting burned despite trying to keep up with the sunscreen), there are more things you can do to take care of yourself. I try to keep my shoulders covered as much as possible when the sun is being a problem because they burn so easily and I have trouble applying enough sunscreen and reapplying often enough to keep up.
