I just read an article on sneaky ways you get more sun exposure than you may think. Some of them are pretty obvious when you think about it: driving, sitting by a window at work or on a plane. But things like your scalp? I mean, I wear a hat all the time because I have the thinnest hair imaginable; but my thick-tressed friends don’t often think about protecting their scalps when we’re out in the sun for any period of time. A visor doesn’t protect you like a full-scalp coverage hat…
I read this list and realized that as much as I thought I was protecting myself from harmful rays, maybe I missed some. I used to have a job that required a lot of airplane rides. I’m sure the quick dash of SPF-30 in my moisturizer wasn’t enough for a 5-hour plane ride next to the window. And I have a habit of gazing out of the window, fascinated by the landforms scrolling beneath me. I had a pre-cancerous lesion frozen off my forehead on the left side the same time I had my pink melanoma cut off. The doctor told me that it was likely from driving and not putting the sunscreen into my hair line. (Honestly, I still have issues with this because of the aforementioned thin hair…)
I thought this was an interesting article to share because it’s likely that we all can do better at protecting ourselves from the harmful effects of too much sun exposure.