Bad news first: 90% of visible signs of aging are from sun damage, and up to 20% of the sun's harmful rays can penetrate your skin—even on a cloudy day. The good news! SPF can be your faces’ BFF when used regularly, year-round.
So, how much sunscreen should you be using to keep your face—and your kid’s—covered? Read on for our tips on how to apply sunscreen on your face the right way, for the whole family.
How much sunscreen should I use?
Wondering how much sunscreen you should actually use on your (and your kids’) face? On the scale of gobs to Gwyneth, the best amount of sunscreen for your face is somewhere in the middle.
A good rule of thumb is to use 1/2-1 teaspoon on your face, neck, ears, and chest; for full body coverage, up it to an ounce. When applying, think about even, thick coverage—and don't neglect often forgotten areas like your scalp, ears, and neck.
Kids, and sunscreen
When it comes to ‘screening the kiddos, the airplane oxygen mask rule holds true: make sure you’re covered up first, then tackle the kids (literally, if you must). First, start with the right products—for babies and kids with delicate skin, look for sensitive skin formulations like our Baby SoftStick®.
For the application part of the kid sunscreen equation, we’ve found that making a game of it can help make sure your faces are SPF-proofed. Here are a few ways that we’ve successfully won this battle with our own families:
- Head, shoulders, knees and toes—Sing-along while applying your favorite SPF … and bonus points if you update the song to name the highest risk areas (scalp, shoulders, ears, and knees, anyone?).
- Color pops—Our Bare Funscreens are a great way to infuse some playfulness into the sunscreen application process. Start off with a nice layer of all-over face coverage with our Mineral Face then let the kids run wild with funscreen designs in shades like Electric Blue and Goblin Green.
- Sun painting—One of our most creative mom friends doesn’t go to the beach without a paintbrush … for sunscreen. Grab a brush with nice, soft bristles, dot the littles’ arms and legs with dollops of sunscreen, and let them paint themselves up. (And check for even ‘canvas’ coverage after, of course—think more Rothko, less Pollock!)
How often should I reapply sunscreen?
While it’s tempting to treat sunscreen application as a one and done kind of thing—especially when sand and salt and grass and dirt are involved—reapplication is a must during a family day outdoors.
We’ve found that the best way to boost our SPF throughout the day is to simply set a timer: aim for reapplications every two hours, increasing frequency if the kids are in and out of the water or working up a sweat running through the park.
Want to learn more?
We’ve done our research and could talk sunscreen all day. For more information on keeping your skin protected with Bare Republic, take a peek at our Bare Difference.
