You’ve probably got a pretty concrete image of summers in the South in your mind, whether you are Southern, are a non-Southerner who has visited the South, or even if you’ve never set foot below the Mason-Dixon Line.
There are several variations: ladies in sundresses and sun hats sitting on the porch, fanning themselves and sipping lemonade. Children hurling themselves off of a rope swing into a swimming hole. People sweating in front of an electric fan. A family tansporting their mother’s body across county lines as it becomes malodourous in the sweltering heat… Not into Southern gothic? Maybe leave that last bit off, then.
The point is, all of these scenarios have a few things in common: heat, humidity, and sun. So much sun. Add into this equation the high proportion of people of British descent in the South— including me— and you have a recipe for disaster.
The bright Southern sun increases the risk of skin cancer and premature aging for everyone, but for someone very fair-skinned like me, the risk of painful sunburn is especially high. The only solution is strident prevention measures. That means hats, sunglasses, and especially sunscreen.
Sunscreen has been a trial for me for years. I need a high SPF to keep from burning, even through windows, so going without is not an option. In recent years, the chemical-blocking kind have been widely proclaimed to be Bad For You, but in my experience, physical blocks are often pore-clogging— just what you don’t want in the melting summer heat.
So what’s a girl to do? I have tried countless sunscreens, recommended by dermatologists, magazines, blogs, and skincare experts, until I stumbled on something that worked mostly by dumb luck.
Like the rest of the world, I had heard about the miraculous properties of argan oil and decided to give it a go. Like so many others, I was impressed by its light-but-moisturizing, multi-tasking properties, and especially by the fact that it didn’t break me out. When I discovered that Josie Maran uses this great product to make a sunscreen, I knew I had to try it.
As it turns out, this was the product I had been waiting for. Josie Maran Argan Daily Moisturizer Mineral SPF 47 a lot lighter than your typical physical block sunscreen, and it doesn’t leave that dreaded chalky white cast that many do. I should note, however, that I am particularly fair, so if you’re darker it may be more noticeable; there is a tinted version that might protect darker skin tones from a white cast, but I have not tried it myself.
It goes on more like a moisturizer than a sunblock, soaking in and leaving a nice dewey finish, rather than leaving your face tight or stiff like some thicker sunscreens. It is actually a bit on the greasy side (it is made with argan oil, after all), but after a few minutes it leaves only a slight dewy sheen on my dry skin. Because of this, it may not work as well on oily skin, but could work alone as a substitute for a non-SPF moisturizer that you would normally layer under a drier sunscreen.
It also avoids another common problem: not playing well with makeup. I’ve tried sunscreens in the past that are fine on their own, but that make a big, streaky mess when you try to put foundation on top of them. Not this one! It’s smooth finish acts almost like a primer, helping your makeup glide on smoothly and evenly.
I couldn’t be happier with my sunscreen. It does a fantastic job of protecting my very fair, sun-sensitive skin from those burning rays and from the freckling that I’ve found many physical sunscreens do a poor job of preventing. Not only that, but the texture and feel of the product on your skin is excellent. If you’ve been trying to find the perfect sunscreen, I recommend you give this one a try. I wear it every day, all year round, but make sure to at least have your sunscreen at the ready going into the sunny spring and summer seasons!
*This is not a sponsored post—I just wanted to tell you about my favorite sunscreen!
