Picnicking is always fun. Now that the warm seasons are back, we all want to enjoy the nice weather and get our shorts out of the closet. Before preparing our picnic baskets, let's take a moment to think about protecting our skin while we enjoy the bright sun.

We are all aware that skin protection is essential when we are exposed to the sun on a picnic day. Everybody should get protected even if you plan to stay in the shade. Doctors recommend the use of sunscreen, a sun protection hat (not a regular hat) and sun protection clothes. They recommend to combine them all if the UV factor is high and the exposure time is long. Here you will find some tips that can help you better protect your skin on your next outdoor activity.

The sunscreen is the most known form of sun protection. The main problem with the sunscreen is that most people do not apply it correctly. You should apply a thick layer 30 minutes before sun exposure and then reapply every 90 minutes if the exposure continues. The experts recommend the use of a sunscreen with a SPF (Sun Protection Factor) of 30 or 40. A sunscreen with a higher SPF is not needed because the UV protection will increase only by 3% or 4% while the risk of allergies increases because of the extra chemicals. When buying your sunscreen, also look for a sunscreen with "broad spectrum". The SPF only refers to protection against UVB. A sunscreen labeled "broad spectrum" also includes protection against UVA.

Another option to protect your skin against ultraviolet rays is the use of sun-protected clothes. These are not the regular summer clothes that we usually wear. The materials in these clothes are chemically treated to guarantee an Ultraviolet Protection Factor (UPF) that can go from 15 (good) to 50+ (excellent). The UPF is used in clothing to measure the effectiveness against both the UVA and UVB. This is an important different between sun protection clothes and sunscreen. When you wear sun-protected clothes, you are being protected against both types of rays. The clothe guarantees that you get the protection indicated in the label. If you use sunscreen and this is not applied correctly, you end up less protected, regardless of the SPF of the sunscreen.

A sun protection hat is also made with treated materials to guarantee a UPF. In order to have total protection, you should look for a hat with a brim of 3 ½ inches or more. Depending on the activity, you may want to consider a hat with a chinstrap.

A picnic day is an activity in which we typically expose our skin to the sun. It is therefore important to also include in our picnic basket some form of skin protection that allows us to protect our skin while we enjoy our picnic experience.