In our everyday lives we often grasp a certain routine that we follow and dedicate ourselves to. Different hygiene items can make an immense difference in the routine we follow.
I cannot go to the store and go to the hygiene section without looking at the wide variety of things — bodywash, facewash, or even toothpaste – and considering the options that stand in front of me. There are obvious choices of what you need when you run out of anything: bodywash, what you need to ensure a clean scrub of your body; facewash, ensuring the clearest of skin as possible, and toothpaste, which makes your teeth white and clean, a versatile product all in one. But what about the occasions that will require protection from the sun?
I'm speaking, of course, on sunscreen, which we should implement into our everyday routine. Sunscreen is just not something we use to protect ourselves from the sun--it is a richer product with a rich history. The origins of sunscreen can be traced back to 3100 BC, where ancient Egyptians used sun protection for cultural purposes (Drissi). The Egyptians would utilize ingredients such as jasmine, rice bran, and lupine to block out effects of the sun such as tanning on skin (Drissi). Since then, multiple cultures and societies have found different methods and recipes to craft a sunscreen that would help protect themselves from the malicious effects of sun exposure. Examples of this can range from Ancient Greece, Japan, England, and Germany (Drissi).
Used by multiple cultures and originating from a multitude of places, sunscreen shares a few central characteristics as a product. When using sunscreen, we often only use it during the hottest summer days, not considering its multitude of possibilities as a product that could be used everyday. Sunscreen is so unique in how it's wired, designed to be something so distinctive in the way it blocks ultraviolet rays from the sun, and contains ingredients such as zinc oxide or titanium oxide (“The science of sunscreen”). Besides giving full protection from the sun, sunscreen also provides protection from skin cancer, prevents aging, and reduces inflammation (“The science of sunscreen”). These effects should urge us into implementing into our daily routine, as these effects will not only help our present selves but also our future selves.
Sunscreen is so unique in the way it comes--liquid, lotion, spray, or sunstick. The versatile ways sunscreen can come in often make it a unique product, in the way we have to figure out which one is perfectly unique for us. And this versatility can cause people to not want to try it. Liquid sunscreen is unique in the way it can be used to target specific areas of your body such as your face or arms. It also is great because there are specific kinds of liquid sunscreen that target specific types of skin or skin color. Lotion sunscreen is similar, as it can be used in to help ensure moisturized skin and also be used for sun protection. A spray sunscreen can be used with little effort and also ensure great sun protection. We also have things like sunsticks which can also help target specific areas of our skin and offer a clean alternative when applying sunscreen. Just by these different variations we see how unique sunscreen can be in the way it is wired. Sunscreen has developed into something people want to try all variations of and ensure they find a product that provides sun protection and works with their skin.
I count myself among those who want to try every type of sunscreen to see which one adjusts to their specific needs. I will spend time looking on Tiktok trying to find which sunscreen is the best or what method will work best for me and adjust for me. People are rarely ever able to tell how sunscreen will improve their skin and don't think it will have much effect on them, but they won't realize the effects of how it can change them as they get older. I don't think people realize how sunscreen can offer a boost of self-confidence in their everyday lives as it is added on as a hygiene product. Without using a product such as a sunscreen each day of our lives, we might not even realize how it can go into affecting our day. Sunscreen can be the thing that goes on to bring us confidence each day. We may think it really doesn't change our day, but what if it actually does?
A few months ago while I was scrolling through Tiktok. I didn't pay much attention to what I was watching. My phone suddenly hovered to a video from a dermatologist saying that all efforts to ensure clear skin would become useless if we didn't put sunscreen on the end to lock everything in our face. I gasped because I realized that sunscreen is a product that we have to use for our foundation. If we want to wash our face and ensure it actually does something, we have to implement sunscreen into our lives.
It is a little mind blowing how through a Tiktok video I found out sunscreen is what we should put on our bodies or face after any other product. I realize, however, that sunscreen is a unique item that has been used for distinct diverse cultures and it is still used today, representing how much of a rich product it is in all. It has a its distinct purpose as a product that ensures a multitude of benefits for ourselves. So everyday as I continue to get ready for whatever life takes me on, I always make sure to leave sunscreen as the last step to apply.
Works Cited
Drissi, Madeeha. Sunscreen: a brief walk through history - PMC, 1 September 2021, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8682817/.
“The science of sunscreen.” Harvard Health, 15 February 2021, https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-science-of-sunscreen. Accessed 17 January 2025.
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