Skin Care for Female Surfers
Skincare & beach hair colors.
Let's talk about skin, hair and eyes in high sun exposure during outdoor sports.
We already know that surfing is wonderful and how good it is to be in direct contact with nature! But as with everything in life has a price… Surfers, after long years, pay for that price with health problems like melasma and pterygium, among many others.
After 22 years of frying in the sun & salt, I'm also suffering from the consequences of this high exposure. One of them that I did not escape and will accompany me for the rest of my life is MELASMA (I will explain more and show how I avoid the condition from getting worse and reduce the stains in my next post). Everything would’ve been easier if someone had told me just that little more than "putting on sunscreen and drinking water". Yes, they are extremely important, but that's not enough.
Remember that I'm not a dermatologist, ophthalmologist or anything like that.
This is just advice based on my experience and indications from several doctors and specialists I've worked with throughout my life.
So please, if you have any doubts, it's better to consult your doctor, because everybody is different and maybe what works for me won't be the same for you.
So first things first!
Skin:
Daily sunscreen, I use sunscreen from the time I wake up until I go to bed. I use an anti-oily product because my skin is sensitive and very oily sunscreens give me acne.
Sunscreen for surfing, with a physical protection (layer), those that look like you're wearing a mask or makeup, my favorite is with Zinc (which really only comes off with soap or remover). I've already tested millions of protectors and supposedly water-resistant brands and in my opinion using a liquid protector and not using anything to surf is the same thing, it will come off during the first "duckdive" and you will still have your eyes burning from the dripping protector. Those with zinc or some other natural mineral, in addition to having protection against UVA and UVB rays, will form this second physical layer, that is, double protection, and no burning eyes. And don't forget the lips, which are one of the most exposed parts of the face.
And a tip for women, don't forget the hands and neck, which are the first places to age in the body.
And a tip for men, don't forget to apply it to your ears since most don't have hair covering the ears to protect them and one of the highest rates of skin cancer for men is on the ears.
Night Skincare:
That’s my usual routine at the end of the day;
Micellar water to remove sunscreen.
Wash with your everyday soap moisturizer.
Lip moisturizer to sleep with your mouth properly hydrated too.
Hair: Surfer hair and the wonderful 50 shades of blonde, are extremely dry and ‘literally’ sun and salt burnt (the two biggest enemies of healthy and silky hair). Surfing every day naturally makes the hair lighter. Why? Because salt is responsible for opening the cuticles of the hair leaving the strands exposed. Then the exposure to the sun burns and damages the strands, almost like doing a whitening in the salon, but our whitening happens at sea.
So here are my tips for not harming my hair too much, while surfing 7 days a week;
Whenever you leave the sea try to use fresh water to remove the salt.
Do not apply hair cream with the hair still salty while sunbathing on the beach… This is the most common mistake among beach girls. This way you are closing the hair cuticle with salt and minerals inside. This is a big no no.
They say it's good to use some thermal protective cream or oil, but I never used it because I feel the cream dripping on my skin and I can’t stand to go surfing with my hand all smeared with oil.
For my day-to-day care, at least instead of using conditioner, I use a moisturizing mask for my hair (at least 3 times a week). This is a great tip I got from a hairdresser since it really hydrates more deeply for people who live at the sea or are engaged in activities that are very exposed to light and reflections of the sea.
Eyes: I can't say that I know a lot about the subject, but I have the beginnings of pterygium. To summarize, pterygium is a small piece of skin that grows inside the eye, especially in surfers or people engaged in activities that are very exposed to light. (And light’s reflections on the surface of the water, so it burns from top to bottom and from bottom to top). And when it gets inflamed, it feels like there is a grain of sand stuck in the eye, with eternal scratching as a consequence. My doctor advised me to wear sunglasses as much as possible and keep the eye always lubricated, other than that, surgery is the only solution if it reaches a more critical condition.
And that's it for today!
I hope that’s been helpful and if there are any questions you can always ask me! And let's make the most of this beautiful beach life, without slowly injuring ourselves, right?!
