I was at the beach with my niece one day when she was younger. It was a blistering hot summer’s day – typical of Australia. We were enjoying the sun (or so I thought) when my niece looked up at me and said, “It’s so hot, Lisa.”
“Yeah it is,” I agreed.
“No,” she looked at me seriously, “it is SO hot. It feels like there’s 1000 suns.”
This would have been almost 10 years ago now, and to this day I’ve never heard anyone describe the Australian heat more accurately. A heat that we are all too familiar with. A heat so famous poems have been written in its honour: “I love a sunburnt country.”
And it’s only getting hotter.
Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by Nivea. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100% authentic and written in their own words.
As a child I roamed the NSW countryside with, maybe, one coat of SPF15. We never reapplied it and I now have arms covered in freckles and an aging face of pale skin as a constant reminder of my childhood.
In recent years we’ve been told to use sunscreen to protect ourselves from the harsh Australian sun, but do we really understand why? It wasn’t until I watched this video that I really understood it.
Filmed here in Australia, this clip shows exactly why we need to wear sunscreen – because the sun sees our skin differently when we apply it. Once you’ve seen the clip (I dare you not to watch it at least five times, it’s so fascinating) you truly can see how the sunscreen we use acts as a barrier helping to protect our skin from damage.
At the beach, direct sun, heat and salt water leaves skin feeling dry and tight. Additionally UV rays are reflected from the sand and water, increasing your exposure to the damaging effects of the sun. 