From the Editor: It may be chilly, but don’t let your sunscreen go into hibernation this winter season

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When you think of ways to stay safe and comfortable in the fall and winter seasons, essentials that come to mind usually include puffy jackets, tuques, gloves, and, most definitely in Metro Vancouver, an umbrella.

The last thing you’d think you need during this season is sunscreen, a staple in hot, sunny weather. However, just because heat is warming the bottom half of the globe, it doesn’t mean the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation has gone down under.

 UV radiation is present all year round, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On cloudy, rainy, and snowy days, UV radiation can reach the surface of your skin. It even reflects off surfaces like water, cement, sand, and snow, and penetrates through the windows of cars and homes. 

There are two types of UV radiation, UVA, which has a longer wavelength, and UVB, which has a shorter wavelength, both of which can damage your skin, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. When this radiation is exposed to unprotected skin, it damages the cells, which in the short-term can cause a sunburn, but can also lead to changes in skin texture and premature aging in the long run. 

While these reactions may only seem like vanity induced issues, sun-damaged skin stands at an increased risk of developing skin cancer, including basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, both of which are curable when caught and treated early, but also melanoma, a very dangerous type of skin cancer, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.

Fortunately, there is a natural protectant that shields us from this harmful radiation in the atmosphere — the ozone. However, there is a hole in the ozone, created by pollution. While the hole is currently healing due to global efforts that phased out chemicals causing such breach, according to the United Nations, our skin is still at risk of UV radiation damage, meaning it’s important to protect it each and every day.

Standing in shaded areas or wearing full coverage clothing, hats, and sunglasses are some ways to stay protected from UV radiation, especially in the summer. However it’s most effective, and convenient, to wear sunscreen year round.

Now, if you’ve never thought about wearing sunscreen on a gloomy, chilly day, I don’t blame you. Sunscreen seems to be religiously advertised during the spring and summer seasons. From T.V. commercials and bus ads to in-store promotions, it’s almost impossible to escape sunscreen marketing when it’s hot outside, and for good reason. But as soon as the weather flips, the ads go away, and sunscreen gets stored on shelves that are almost impossible to find at grocery and drug stores.

While the big bottle of sunscreen you usually use during the summer may be hard to get your hands on this time of the year, do not fret as there is still a solution to keeping your skin protected. When we think of our wardrobe during the fall and winter season, we often wear clothes with more coverage to keep us warm.

The main, if not only, area of our body that’s fully exposed when we step outside is our face, and luckily enough, there are a ton of face creams with added SPF readily available to be purchased at your local shops. While some skincare products can be quite expensive, and therefore usually out of the question for students, there are still a lot of affordable brands like CeraVe, Aveeno, and Nivea.

So next time you’re headed outdoors on a gloomy day, be sure to prepare yourself for that bone-chilling weather by smothering some SPF on your face to protect that precious skin.