Which product is the best? Look for ones that are hypoallergenic and noncomedogenic, because you don’t want to cause other skin damage while trying to protect from sun damage. But don’t put a lot of faith in those labels, since all creams can cause pimples and rashes. It’s really hit or miss. Also make sure that your sunscreen is water-resistant so it doesn’t end up in your eyes while the rest of the players on your team watch you drop the ball in painful anguish. Water resistant also means it will stay on your body past the first droplet of sweat when you are hot. But even if it says “water-resistant,” reapply it after swimming. By the way, hats and T-shirts don’t provide enough SPF protection. Hats provide an SPF of 10 at the most, and T-shirts only about SPF 5 (but sun-protective clothing with higher SPFs are available).
Ever wonder what the heck the SPF numbers truly mean? An SPF of 1 means that your skin covered in SPF 1 would turn red in about 20 minutes; SPF 2 would require 40 minutes, and so on. The most common reason for sunscreen failure is using inadequate amounts.
Step 6: HAVE A PRO SAVE YOUR FACE
While some cosmetic procedures may seem as unnecessary as gumball machines, there are a lot of advantages to getting regular facials or microdermabrasion. Microdermabrasion is really a facial without all the glitz. It simply exfoliates your skin and sucks the dirt out of your pores. If you can afford it, get a facial or microdermabrasion monthly to clear pores, which can be clogged by makeup. The massage part will also stimulate blood flow. These cleaning procedures must be followed by proper skin care at home twice a day—cleaning, antioxidant protection, hydrating, protecting against the sun, and exfoliating regularly.
FACTOID
Within 1,000 years of a population’s migration from one climate to another, its descendants have the correct color skin to protect them and maximize nutrients in their environment. If you chart the evolution of skin color of populations living in one area for 500 years, the curve perfectly correlates UV radiation with skin color. The only exception is the Inuit, who have dark skin and hair even though they inhabit northern climates; that’s because they eat lots of fatty fish, which provide vitamin D, so they don’t need it from the sun. Our ancestors began migrating from northern Africa 250,000 years ago, so there has been lots of time for our skin types to adapt to our climate.
It used to be that people would decorate their bodies with the big three—clothes, makeup, and facial hair. These days, bodily decoration has become infinitely more creative and colorful. With the prevalence of tattoos and piercings on the rise (24 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 50 have tats), it seems that everywhere you turn, you’re looking at a skull, rose, or some Asian symbol. Some of us scar our bodies and embed metal under our skin. We’re not telling you that you can’t look like a Ferengi from Star Trek, but if you do choose that alien look, we want you to stay safe.
Professional tattoos are applied with a sewing machine–type needle that drags ink into the mid to upper dermis as it penetrates. Some pigments contain iron oxides and some organic chemicals. Most inks/pigments are from nonsterile bottles, but some companies do make sterile pigments, which cost hundreds of times more than the nonsterile ones (which makes them hard to find). Here’s the lowdown on what you need to know if you decide to have yourself inked or pierced.
STAY STERILE. Your artist should wear sterile gloves and a surgical mask, and your skin should be cleaned with an antibacterial solution. We prefer Betadine, but most will just use alcohol. Betadine is better because it lasts longer and kills a wider variety of bugs. But it needs to be applied wet and allowed to dry to really work its wonders. Infections can occur because the barrier of the skin is broken during the procedure. (Tattooing and piercing are the only situations where the skin is intentionally penetrated by nonmedical people.) Because pigment is not sterile, bacteria and viruses can contaminate it, and infections can come to you from parts of the machine that can’t be sterilized (even though your artist may think the machine is spotless). HIV and hepatitis B and C can be transmitted through tattoos and take a long time to show up in blood tests, so you won’t be able to donate blood for a year after receiving a tattoo. People with tattoos are nine times more likely to contract hepatitis C than people who never get tattoos. Essentially, you’re having sex with your tattoo artist and everyone else he’s used the pigment on. If you wouldn’t have sex with these unknowns, don’t get tattooed with that old pigment.
THINK AHEAD. A letter on your cheek? Dots on your fingers? You might want to think twice or even three times about putting a tattoo on an area that is visible in normal clothing. What you do to your privates stays private, but your neck will be visible to every employer and customer for your entire life. Pick spots that can be concealed and are more amenable to future modification, such as upper legs, buttocks, and back. When the skin is thin, it’s more difficult and painful to remove or alter.
KEEP IT CLEAN. Treat your tattoo like a wound for the first week or so. Keep it clean by washing it with soap and water twice a day. Coat the area with bacitracin, Neosporin, or Vaseline. You’ll know when it’s healed; it’ll stop hurting. If it still hurts after five days, give your doc a call.
TAKING IT OFF. Maybe you’ve decided that Yosemite Sam on your forehead doesn’t go over all that well at job interviews. If the tattoo is small, you might consider having it cut out—one procedure and it’s done. You’ll be replacing the tattoo with a scar, however. If it’s larger, lasers might be the answer. Different lasers are used for the different colors in your tattoo. The laser heats up the pigment and explodes the cells that contain it. The pigment then disperses and other cells pick it up. Each treatment blurs the tattoo until it is hard to see. But there are many drawbacks to lasering; it takes many painful, expensive treatments and often leaves white scars behind.
For the time being, you’ve got a problem if you don’t like your tattoo because the pigments are permanent, but removable tattoos are around the corner. Within a few years biodegradable pigment sealed into tiny plastic capsules will be used. When the capsules are lasered, they break open, and the biodegradable tattoo disappears.
CHECK THE PIERCING TOOLS. Piercing instruments must be sterilized in autoclaves—medical-type machines that kill every little germ that can cause infections. The instruments shouldn’t be boiled, placed in hot glass beads, or dipped in some strange chemical. The piercing instrument should be wrapped in a bag with an indicator that tells you the proper temperature was reached to kill bacteria and viruses. And that’s not enough. The autoclave must be tested every week with live bacteria to make sure it’s really working.
Like a tattooer, your piercer should wash his hands and put on sterile gloves, and your skin should be cleaned with Betadine before any piercing. The Betadine should dry on your skin to a beautiful orange. The jewelry should also be sterilized before it is put into your body. Since stones will loosen in an autoclave, we recommend using only metal jewelry right after a piercing. You can bring your jewelry to your family doctor and ask her to sterilize it for you. After the piercing, keep the area clean with hydrogen peroxide on a Q-tip or washcloth. Then coat the area with bacitracin or Neosporin. Skip where they tell you to clean the area with alcohol. That will actually stall healing. It takes weeks to months for the piercing tract to heal. Until that time, don’t remove the jewelry for more than a few minutes.
BE SMART. Earlobes are a pretty safe area to pierce; that’s why 12-year-olds with an ice cube and a needle can usually pull this one off. We recommend that you draw an ink spot exactly where you want the piercing on one side, then measure the distance up from the bottom of the lobe and back from the cheek. This is the spot the piercing should go on the other side. If they come out crooked, just take the earrings out and wait a month to repierce. Other than the lobes and the belly button, you’re increasing your risk of trouble if you stray to other areas. Ear cartilage,