Using SPF On Hands
Women tend to be very conscientious these days about applying SPF lotion to their face, the most important place in my opinion, to apply it, since the face received the brunt of the harmful and prematurely aging UV rays of the sun on a daily basis, even on the days when we think our exposure to the sun may be minimal. Make no mistake, even when you’re sitting in your car, you are being exposed to UV light that is breaking down your cellular structure faster and causing you to age faster.
Many people are so focused on applying their SPF lotions to the more obvious parts of the body that they many times forget a very important part of UV protection, and that is the hands. Take a look at any older persons hands, and the age spots and mottle skin tone will tell you that their hands have had a lifetime of sun exposure.
Now compare their hands to other parts of their body which are covered the majority of the time, and received minimal sun exposure, and you will see a much smoother, less spotted surface, showing much less telltale signs of sun produced photo damage and premature aging.
This is why it is so important to keep our hands well protected from the sun’s harmful and damaging rays. There are a few lotions out there that are specifically made for the hands in a more emollient formula (the hands needs a thicker, more lasting formula since they are exposed to washings and other things that strip them), and also have an SPF in them.
I really wish that many of my favorite hand lotions, like the Aveda hand cream for example, would learn and add SPF to their formula. It would make it all that much more appealing, especially since the hands are one of the main places that dermatologists remove precancerous sunspots from.
However, I did find a particular hand cream in of all places, one of my least favorite to buy any type of lotion since they are usually drying and heavily perfumed - at Bath and Body Works. It was in a pump and it was scented, however it contained a 15 SPF, and I loved feelign that I was not only moisturizing my hands but also protecting them from cancer and premature aging when I latherered it on. It’s hard to find hand lotions with SPF, but it’s well worth it if you can find one.
