When Sun And Surf Go Bad
The iconic image of surfers tend to involve something of an endless tan, hair that is blonder than ever from constantly being kissed by the sun and just a general air of excitement that comes from living life on the edge. What is most certainly left out of the picture is sunburns, peeling skin, a blood red nose and hair that is as dry as a rock because of continually being thrashed by the saltwater and whipped by the wind. However, there are ways to combat these after effects of surfing and to keep you looking in perfect shape, today we decided to explore them and help you look like you’ve spent hours worshipping the sun not being mauled by it.
It all begins with something that everybody should be doing anyway; regardless of whether you are spending the day riding away your problems out in the water or if you are sitting at your desk in an air-conditioned office, sunscreen is an essential part of our beauty regimen. However, if you are spending your time out on the ocean this becomes an even more critical part of your routine, regardless of how the weather outside may look the water is not only absolutely fantastic at reflecting the sun’s rays back onto your skin but can also easily wash off sunscreens that are not up to par.
Covering up with a wetsuit, or a t-shirt and leggings are absolutely essential to minimize exposure to the sun and then using waterproof sunscreens and multispectral sunscreens that cover all forms of the suns radiation will really help keep you covered while out on the waves. Other ways you can protect yourself include, surfing at non-peak hours for sunlight, hint hint the early hours of the morning just around sunrise and late into the evening heading towards or just after sunset, to help reduce the amount of sun exposure you receive.
Maybe a 5am wakeup call it is then, catch the surf with little worry of too many others out at sea and protect your skin while you’re at it. However, if you find yourself in an awkward situation where instead of looking like a tanned mythological god, you look more akin to a tomato; fear not there is hope for you yet. Tomatoes and green tea will be on your dinner menu. Tomatoes have been proven to be effective at reducing the harms of sunburn, so pull out the pizza, pasta, toasted sandwiches or even a salad for your next meal. Just make sure you have a generous helping of tomatoes.
Green tea is known to help alleviate the swelling, redness and tension of your sunburn, so make sure to wash down your generous supply of tomatoes at dinner with a cup of green tea to make certain your sunburn will be more of an annoyance than a full-blown pest. When wandering down the aisles of any beauty department, you will see a section within the hair care category that is allocated to beachy hair and sun-kissed blonde, this probably has to do with people like surfers who so often are blessed with natural highlights and hair in effortless tousled waves.
While there is a different side to this story, for starters, the salty seawater, combined with the wind and the sun relentlessly beating down on your head can leave your hair feeling dry and bedraggled, rather than shiny and soft. You might be wondering at this point how on earth surfers deal with these kinds of problems, there is a secret of course, but don’t worry we will reveal what it is.
I’m sure you’ve guessed it already, the well-kept secret that is loved by many a surfer to keep their locks long, soft, and shiny is none other than leave in conditioner and we aren’t talking about putting in a little every now and then. Oh no, if you plan on hitting the waves on a regular basis, you will be applying leave in conditioner on a routine basis. This wraps up a couple ways you can best protect yourself from the sun while out in the water, so next time you head out don’t forget to stash some sunscreen in your car.
