black girls need sunscreen too
I have to be honest with you all. I have never been a regular sunscreen user. I honestly never saw the need. After all, my parents are from Ghana, and Ghana is a hot country; there is sun all the time. They never use sunscreen, and they grew up in a hot country ... So why should I?
I never used sunscreen growing up. It is a common belief that black people don't need sunscreen so when I was in school, the white children always lined up at break and lunch for the sunscreen queue. The black pupils were never called, our parents did not demand it ... which was always a funny thing in an inner-city school in London with a majority black student body .... read into that as you will.
However, times have changed, and we know better. Even my daughter's nursery has a sunscreen policy for every child, regardless of race ... something I am very grateful for. We are increasingly being educated on the risk of skin cancer, sun damage and the damage we are doing to our skin's health by never wearing sunscreen. That being said, it would be interesting to read into studies that look at the rates of skin cancer amongst people of African descent in more temperate western European climates vs those back home in the tropics.
Even now that I know better, It's still hard for me to remember to wear sunscreen every day. For thirty years, it was something that was never part of my routine, so to consistently wear it every day has been challenging, but I'm trying, I really am. If I'm frank with myself and look back down memory lane, I can see the times when I desperately needed sunscreen but didn’t use it.
As a model, I spent a lot of time shooting in the sun. And man, I loved those pictures when it was just right! Melanin plus sun equals glowing brown skin. My skin was always 'on fleek', and I never understood the need for sunscreen. I was ignorant. After one sunburn incident on my face, which resulted in a tanned face 4 shades darker than my body (a disaster for modelling), I finally gave in. However, most of the available products were not suited for dark skin.
I will forever be haunted by the memories of white sunscreen on my face; when makeup artists would insist on applying sunscreen underneath the makeup, only for my skin to look cakey and ashy with a solid white cast. In person, it was awful enough, but in photos, it was even worse! I was miserable every time, and as far as I was concerned, I would rather look beautiful and have glowing skin in a photo than wear sunscreen that made my skin ashy and dull, a choice I shouldn't have had to make.
The conventional sunscreens also always caused me to break out. I've been genetically blessed with relatively smooth skin and rarely have breakouts. However, in the summer, sweat plus sun plus sunscreen resulted in lots of spots and pimples for me, and I hated it.
These days the beauty industry has moved on leaps and bounds. There are so many products available for darker skin girls that are non-comedogenic and apply dry and clear without leaving a cast. I've tried a few, and I've narrowed it down to my two favourites:
At the moment, Shiseido is my everyday go to. It's very light. I love the packaging because I can just roll it directly onto my face, and it sits well without creating spots or a cast, and I can't see or feel it at all. I love this sunscreen so much but it's a bit pricey for the amount you get. I admit I was shocked when I opened the box and realized how small the package was. Still, this sunscreen is excellent, and if it protects my skin, I will continue to invest in it because I haven't found a cheaper option that works as well.
My fellow black girls, have you called up to the sunscreen hype? Are you using sunscreen, and if you are, please let me know how you're staying consistent because remembering to put sunscreen on every day for me is a struggle. Let me know in the comments below.
