Last weekend, Neutrogena gave us beauty bloggers a treat by luring us away from the hustles and bustles of the city, to a quiet and luxurious beach destination, at Anvaya Cove, Subic.
The venue of the event was perfect in every way – the beach is the ultimate summer destination, and with that, there are lots of questions on how to protect ourselves from the harmful rays of the sun, and how to enjoy our beach time under the sun!
Present during the event were:
Earth, Azrael, and Lace ( plus the very shy Patty of Seinc )
Brigitte, Shen, and Nikki
and Nikki, me, and Jamie!
Amongst the special guests who fed our brains with so much invaluable knowledge are :
To share with you what we’ve learned during the event, I now remember these by heart :
Entrust your skin only to the expert, and no one else.
Aesthetic centers are okay, but pricking or other invasive procedures should only be entrusted to Philippine Dermatological Society certified dermatologists. You never know if the comedone-looking substance on your skin are really just whiteheads/blackheads. Some things can be deceiving, or can even be cancerous.
With the growing number of cases related to skin problems arising from wrong diagnosis and treatments, the Philippine Dermatological Society launched a campaign called Skin Safety Campaign, trying to infiltrate the media with a helpful information campaign that reminds people to trust only the experts, as you see the Skin Safety Campaign symbol displayed on the clinic door of the dermatologist, to signify that he/she is a member of the PDS. Various flyers are also displayed at various dermatological clinics to target teens to start skin care and taking sun protection seriously. That’s right, start early, and start right!
On a personal note, when I was young, my mom wouldn’t hear the end of it when I expressed the need to see a dermatologist because my skin was very, very oily. I don’t blame my mom because she has good genes, and really did not need a dermatologist for her skin was incredibly low-maintenance. With that, I saved up a fraction of my allowance to be able to afford a once a month facial session at the local aesthetic center situated near my school, as I would be relieved out of blackheads and whiteheads, and feel my skin clean. Good thing that the facialist assigned to be did not dare prick – only target open comedones. What if she pricked something not supposed to be pricked? What if it were something more serious than comedones?
Fast forward to the present, I only trust my skin with my PDS-accredited dermatologist. I trust her with my skin, as I enjoy my improving skin, thanks to her wisdom and light hands!
We’re just about alright.
Some countries adapt such simple skin care regimens, and some countries adapt very complex ones! ( very, very interesting tidbit! ). According to studies, there are some countries that consider just washing their face with facial wash ( or soap ) enough, while some progressive countries’ women use as much as 10 products in their skin care regimen that take up an hour to finish! ( woah, imagine how early you’d need to get up for that! ). Our country happens to be right in the middle – just right, with cleanse, tone, and moisturize routine.
The sun is schizo. It loves it, and it hates us.
The sun can be our best friend, as it is a precious source of Vitamin D, and restores our body clock ( and helps us fight depression – such a related term for a “sunshine-y attitude!” ), but it can also be our enemy as it makes our skin age, and can even cause us more serious sun damage, and even skin cancer! Before, we are advised to stay indoors from 10am to 3pm as the rays of the sun are considered harmful at these hours, but now, it’s going earlier at 9am!
Some sun facts – The rays of the sun are harmful, in two degrees.
UVA and UVB are two types of UV rays that we should be concerned about. In the past, it’s all about protecting ourselves from UVB. UVB is responsible for sunburns when we bask in the sun for too long.
In this event, I was able to understand the ever elusive subject of SPF. Think of your skin. How long does it take for your skin, as it is basked in the sun to burn? Let’s say, 20 minutes. Then, you consider SPF15 as your level of sunscreen. Your SPF15 sunscreen delays your skin from burning 15 times than your usual time to burn. So, do the math. 20 x 15 = 300 minutes, so your sunscreen would be effective for 5 hours.
You get to know how much your skin gets protected against the harmful UVB rays by checking on the SPF number.
UVA, on the other hand, is another topic. There is really more to it than skin burning. It penetrates deeper into the skin, damaging from within, causing fine lines, wrinkles, and age spots ( noo!!!! ). Such an alarming revelation.
To know if your skin is being protected from UVA, there needs to be a PA +++ after the SPF level.
With this, everyone must use a broad screen sunblock, that protects us both from UVA and UVB!
I was very much delighted to know that Neutrogena‘s sunblocks keep us very much safe with key ingredients avobenzone that absorbs short UVA rays, oxybenzone that absorbs UVA rays, with Helioplex, that makes the formula against sun damage more stable. .
Applying sunblock is not a smelly chore to do, but an act of self preservation. ( haha! )
What’s more enticing about Neutrogena’s sunblocks is that they smell really good. Gone are the days wherein sunblock needed to be smelly, and screaming “I’m wearing sunbloccck!!!! Deal with it!!! “. Sunblock has evolved from being a smelly must-apply lotion prior to swimming just to prevent those painful sunburns, into something incorporated into skin care that must be applied everyday as a loving step ( love to oneself, that is! haha! ) to maintain young-looking, sundamage-free skin.
Goodness, this MUST be one of the most important steps if you’d like to live forever, and stay young-looking! No one wants premature wrinkled skin. I know it’s hard to make it a daily promise to apply sunblock, but Neutrogena makes it better with their aesthetically pleasing formulas :
Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry Touch Sunblock SPF 50 PA+++
This is something light, something that smells good that you can apply on your body whenever you’re off to the golf course, the beach, or just under the sun!
This is something watery and light to the skin, and even to the face, as it promises to make your addition to your skin care regimen ( cleanse, tone, moisturize + PROTECT! ) as painless as possible minus the ick factor as this glides on smoothly, that can even act as a fabulous primer before makeup!
Well, I heard today was one of the hottest days in history of our country. I say, we better get protective with our skin by applying sunblock, slowly until we get used to it!
Tata for now, gotta apply sunblock!
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Hi Sophie I love Neutrogena in fact using it right now
I have both!
Shobe! it was great spending the day with you!!!!