Friday Favorites {Summertime Sun}- San Diego Moms Blog Edition

Welcome to our new series, “Friday Favorites” where we will be bringing you some of our (collaborative team effort) favorite things. We will go live on Facebook to show you the products in real life, then write you a recap through our site. This weeks edition is sun and summer focused. 

I love the summertime in San Diego- who doesn’t? The weather is perfect, and there’s always something to do! (Check out our Summer Guide to keep busy!) Keeping in mind all the sun time that me and my family get while we are out hiking, heading to the beach, and exploring our town, it’s important to protect our skin.

Sunscreen:

I was always outdoors playing soccer as a kid, and I never remember my parents lathering me up with sunscreen. In fact, both my parents were sun worshippers back then- directing the sun to themselves with foil and glopping on baby oil like it was going out of style. 

Since I don’t want to turn into a leathery alligator or end up with skin cancer in my old age, I try to do some serious skin protection now! It may not make up for all those years without it, but it’s better late than never. And it’s up to me to protect my kiddos skin.

All that being said- we have used many sunscreens over the years. The spray sunscreens are hit and miss, and I generally don’t use anything under SPF 50. We have also tried more “natural” types of sunscreen, but they don’t do the job as well. 

We never leave the house without sunscreen. One of my favorites right now is Alba Botanica biodegradable sunscreen. The hubbie and I bought a small bottle at Sprouts before we headed off to a vacay in Mexico recently. We had a protected coral reef and turtle sanctuary within walking distance from our resort and they required biodegradable sunscreen so that it wouldn’t affect the reef when it comes into contact with the water.

It works well! We have since found some at Costco in bulk so I am guessing that others have caught on. My only complaint: It is best to reapply your sunscreen right after getting out of the water. The water washes it off easier than regular sunscreen so I was finding that it wasn’t effective after I got out of the water.

Hats:

For some of us, sun protection doesn’t stop at sunscreen. I am a hat lover, mainly because I rarely wash my hair, and even more rarely does my hair meet a brush. So- I wear lots of hats. I love the basic baseball hats, and occasional trucker hat, but since it’s Summer- it’s time for the wide brimmed floppy hat!

I found my floppy hat this season at Target. For a $14.99 price tag, I will use it’s value and then some! The last floppy hat I owned might have also been from target from years and years ago and only recently did I finally have to replace it. Not only is it super cute, but it does the job well. It protects all the way to my shoulders, so in case my sunscreen fails, I have a backup plan!

Aloe uses:

After you finally get yourself completely out of the sun, it’s time for some after-sun care. It’s super important to re-hydrate your skin after you spend time in the sun. Not only by drinking water, but giving it some TLC with some aloe. Any brand will do (as far as I am concerned), and I am no expert so I don’t have recommendations for one brand over another. It also should be said that you should consult your doctor if you have some severe sunburn, because simply hydrating it with aloe will not be sufficient.

There are so many uses for aloe:

It’s a great moisturizer for your skin

It soothes sunburn/razor burn 

I use for taming flyaway baby hairs

Apparently it’s great at deterring dandruff

It’s also a great eyelash thickener! I wasn’t allowed to use makeup in grade school so I put a bit on my eyelashes to make them appear thicker/darker. I imagine adding mascara would only make it better!

What are some of your summertime must have products mamas? Share with us in the comments below!

[xyz-ihs snippet=”friday-favorites-summertime”]