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How the sun affects your skin (and what you can do about it)

We’re all familiar with sunburn, that hot, red, stinging sensation that flares across our skin after a day outdoors, yet how many of us understand the sunburn process?

Appreciating how the skin burns can help us understand how to better care for our skin, such as preparing for exposure and making sure our skin aftercare is up to scratch, even without sunburn.

While sunlight is important to help the skin manufacture Vitamin D which is important for bone health, the sun’s UV rays can be harmful to skin.

The skin’s outer layer (the epidermis) contains melanin and produces extra pigment to make it darker when exposed to the sun.

When UV rays penetrate the skin over a longer period of time or the skin is exposed to sudden, intense heat, the deeper layers of the skin are affected, causing damage and even killing skin cells.  

Continued exposure to UV rays is a key cause of skin damage. Not only can it diminish the skin’s elasticity and cause premature ageing, but it can result in a deadly form of skin cancer known as melanoma.

That’s why skin aftercare is so important. Rehydration, nourishment and regular skin checks can help you take care of exposed skin and protect it – and your health – for the future. Keep this checklist handy:

  • Take cool showers to help relieve the stinging sensation of sunburn or sun exposure
  • Glide fresh aloe from your aloe plant across sensitive areas to rehydrate skin cells
  • Use a compress soaked in a cooled chamomile infusion to relieve redness and heat
  • Apply Vitamin E topically to help protect against the degeneration of DNA
  • Drink extra, fresh, filtered water to rehydrate the body and support skin cells
  • Check your skin regularly to detect any changes, such as a change to shape, colour or appearance of any moles or skin spots.  

Bee Loved’s Face Cream and Body Lotion are ideally suited to soothe, nourish and rehydrate skin after sun exposure. With vital ingredients such as aloe, chamomile, Vitamin E – and cocoa seed butter and shea butter for intense moisturising – and 100% free from irritants that can send sensitive skin into overdrive, it is the ideal salve for sun exposed skin. Learn more about our free-from products at our online shop here.   

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