Get Your Body Summer-Ready With These Skincare Tips

To make the most out of your summer this year, you'll want to feel and look your best. Unfortunately, many people suffer from oily and shiny skin, dry skin, dull and straw-like hair each summer, and sunburn is always a risk too. If you're determined to take the best care of your skin you can this year, you'll need to prepare in advance. Here are some tips that will keep you looking awesome!

Sunscreen And Beyond

The American Academy of Dermatology estimates that a whopping three million cases of skin cancer a year could be prevented by avoiding sun exposure. While there is no doubt that we're subjected to the sun's damaging rays year-round, and even through windows while we're indoors, 80 percent of sun damage we face is still "earned" during the hotter months. This is the season to be extra careful!

You should ideally apply sunscreen 15 to 30 minutes before going out in the sun. Use plenty, to cover your whole face and all sun-exposed areas of the body, well, and don't forget to reapply your sunscreen every two hours if you are actually directly in the sun. It's great that many moisturizers and even BB creams now have an SPF, but remember that this is "extra" and not something anyone should ever solely rely on: no sunscreen lasts through the day!

Contrary to popular belief, using an SPF of 15 will typically suffice: this successfully blocks 93 percent of the rays that have the potential to give you sunburn, while SPF 30, for instance deflects 97 percent of these rays — though the double number may give you the impression that it would be much more effective.

More important than the sun protection factor you choose is that you opt for a broad-spectrum sunscreen that protects both against UVA and UVB rays. To achieve this, you'll need a sunscreen that contains oxybenzone, cinnamates , sulisobenzone, salicylates, titanium oxide, avobenzone, or zinc oxide. Due to (semi-warranted) concerns over the safety of some of these ingredients, highly safety-conscious people tend to prefer zinc-oxide based sunscreens. Note: though zinc oxide used to give people a white hue that wasn't particularly attractive, more modern formulations don't come with this "side effect".

READ Protect Your Skin - National Healthy Skin Month

Whether you'll be swimming or not, you'll benefit from a waterproof sunscreen. Summer temperatures will have you sweating, after all, and you don't want to miss out on that protection by having it flushed away! Don't neglect your lips, which are also prone to skin cancer, either, and purchase a lip balm with an SPF.