Protecting Your Skin on the Water

By Sailiz Sailing!

Spring is well underway, and with it, sunny sailing trips are just around the corner. A female sailor’s technical gear isn’t the only thing to consider. Don’t forget your skin! Protecting your skin on the water and on a boat is key for your health and for having a good time without sunburn.

Why is it important to protect your skin on the water while sailing?

It’s very important for several reasons:

1. Prolonged sun exposure: Water activities are outdoors and often for long periods. This means your skin is exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays for many hours.

2. Water reflection: Water acts like a mirror, reflecting the sun’s rays and increasing their intensity. When you are on the water, your skin is exposed to an additional amount of UV radiation.

3. Risk of sunstroke: Direct sun exposure without adequate protection should not be overlooked. On the water, the effect is intensified. Sunstroke can lead to headaches, nausea, dizziness, and even fainting, which can compromise your safety while on or in the water.

Protecting your skin on the water during your nautical activity is crucial to prevent sunburn, reduce the risk of long-term skin damage, and ensure your comfort and safety.

How to effectively protect your skin on the water?

The essential step to protect my skin on the water? Sunscreen and a hat!

The number 1 protection to always have on board or within reach:

Sunscreen

It forms a physical or chemical barrier on the skin that helps block harmful UV rays emitted by the sun. Sunscreen minimizes long-term damage (sunburn, headaches, premature skin aging, skin cancer risk…)

Which one to choose?

It’s easy to get lost among the wide range of options available to us. Sailiz has selected 3 selection criteria for you:

1) Sun Protection Factor (SPF): SPF, expressed as a number (generally 25, 30, or 50), measures the sunscreen’s ability to protect your skin against UV rays.

But what exactly do SPF 25, 30, or 50 mean?

It’s often misunderstood, but these values refer to time, not protection capacity. To understand correctly, sunscreen extends the time it takes for you to get a sunburn compared to unprotected sun exposure. An SPF 30 cream allows you to stay 30 times longer, an SPF 50 allows you to stay 50 times longer.

To protect your skin on the water and avoid reapplying sunscreen too often, we strongly recommend opting for a higher SPF, such as 50 or more.

2) Composition: It may seem surprising, but some creams have a chemical composition that is not always in line with our health.

Some sunscreen ingredients have raised long-term safety concerns regarding their potential for hormonal disruption (endocrine disruptors). Remember to check the composition of your sunscreen and opt for the most natural one possible.

3) Water resistance: What we put on our skin often ends up in the water. This is even more important when engaging in nautical activities!

Let’s consider the environmental impact: what is harmful to our health is also harmful to our environment and its ecosystem.

Make sure to read labels carefully and look for products containing ingredients beneficial for your skin and the environment. By choosing sunscreens with environmentally friendly ingredients, you can help protect oceans and coral reefs.

So let’s not forget, to properly protect your skin on the water, next time you go out on the water, in addition to your foul-weather gear to stay dry, remember to wear a hat and good sunscreen.