Search icon

Health

21st Aug 2017

How to protect your child’s sensitive skin from the sun’s harmful rays

Katie Mythen-Lynch

Brought to you by P20 Sunscreen.

There was a time when a sunburned nose was part of the charm of a day at the beach. These days we know better.

Thanks to those hard working scientists, we are all well aware that tanned skin is damaged skin. The take-away? It’s never worth risking your health for a golden glow.

In fact, establishing healthy habits when it comes to sun exposure during the childhood is the most important thing you can do for your children in order to to prevent sunburns, pigment spots, wrinkles and cancer later on in life.

Make these five tips your mantra once the weather begins to warm up:

Stay out of the sun between 11am and 3pm. If you must be in the full sunlight during these times, make sure the kids are wearing a hat and light clothes and always use sunscreen. Otherwise, stay in the shade.

Ensure your sun protection is water resistant. Children spend a lot of time at the beach, around a swimming pool or in the garden paddling pool. Even after 80 minutes in the water, P20 retains the same level of protection as it did before the children entered the water – after just one application. Apply it to your own skin while you protect the kids.

Children always need to be protected; that doesn’t just mean at the beach. Keep a high factor sunscreen in your bag for applications whenever they play outside, in nursery, playschool, at school or at summer camp.

Keep babies covered up. Infants under six months of age should always be kept in a cool, shaded spot on warm days. Make sure they are wearing loose -fitting clothing that covers arms and legs and look out for woven fabrics, which can allow sunlight through to their delicate skin.

Make sunscreen a part of your morning routine. From the spring on, applying sunscreen should be as much a part of the morning routine as pouring cereal and drinking orange juice. P20 is designed to ensure that one application a day is sufficient when applied correctly. If you apply the spray or lotion in the morning, your children remain protected for up to 10 hours due to a very stable formula with photostable UVA and UVB filters. Plus it’s easy to apply due to a clear, non-greasy formula avoiding the sticky sunscreen feeling that no kid likes, and it leaves no white marks on the skin.

P20 Sunscreen is available in factor 15, 20, 30 and 50 and is stocked in pharmacies, department stores and airports nationwide. P20 recently launched a Continuous Spray with new multi-angle technology for easy application and even coverage. For more info visit Facebook.