wear sunscreen. please?

In a perfect world, we'd all wear sunscreen 24/7/365 to proctect ourselves from the sun's harmful rays. But alas, the world is not perfect and neither are we. I'm only 25, but the truth is, my skin could pass for 33. It just isn't as smooth and even-toned and flawless as I'd like it to be, and it's probably because I spent a good portion of my fair-skinned life burning on the beach and in tanning beds.

I don't know how much of this damage is reversible (probably not much) but what I DO know is that it's not too late to prevent my skin from looking even crappier in the future. I don't want to look like a wrinkled, blotchy, sagging mess in a few years and that's clearly the direction in which I'm headed. I'm also realizing that age doesn't make you invincible to skin cancer - dermatologists have been seeing a rise in melanomas in people under the age of 30. Scares the hell out of me.

A lot of you might want to hurt me for sounding like a sunblock Nazi right now but getting a "real" tan is simply not worth it in my opinion. You might be wondering about sacrificing precious Vitamin D - well, your body only needs about 10 minutes of sunlight twice a week to receive adequate amounts of Vitamin D from the sun's UVB rays. Those 20 minutes are my free pass to go without sunscreen, but the rest of the time I like to be covered.

Does this mean I slather on globs of chalky, thick SPF 75 every morning? Heck no. I've been using SPF without even realizing it. After my morning shower, I apply Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion with Sunscreen SPF 15. It's the same stuff as the regular Aveeno lotion I know and love, plus sun protection. Very shmart of them. On my face, I 've been using Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer which actually has SPF 20 in it. While these two winners won't keep me fully protected on a day at the beach - they aren't waterproof or sweatproof - they'll suffice during my long, daytime walks in the spring months.