It is worrisome to note that most Nigerians do not protect their skin or their eyes from the sun at all. As hot as the sun is over here in Lagos, Nigeria, most Nigerians walk under its scorching heat without a single thought or care for its harmful rays. Nigerians use umbrellas only as a shield from the rain and not from the sun. It is only mothers who have their children strapped on their backs and very fair skin ladies, that have the unspoken approval to make use of an umbrella under the sun. A dark skin lady, doing so, is usually silently ridiculed and sometimes get snide remarks from passersby, after all, they wonder, you can't be darker than you already are, so why bother?
Straw hats, for sun protection, are so foreign to us here and therefore, very unpopular. UVA and UVB protection sun shades are regarded as a luxury, rather than a necessity. Sun screens are also very unpopular in Lagos, that many skin beauty shops neglect to even stock them. Why stock something that is not even in demand? From my experiences, it is easier to find moisturizing and lightening skin beauty products on shelves, than sun screens. Many of the sales persons are unaware of what sun screen lotions are and unfamiliar with the term - SPF. This means Sun Protection Factor, by the way. To buy a quality sun screen lotion in Lagos, you have to visit major super markets, shopping malls and top beauty shops. The truth is, the general feeling among Nigerians, is that sun protection is a white thing. That is, a skin treatment for the whites alone and not for our tough black skin. This belief is so not true.
People with dark skin and all blacks, most especially the albinos, all need to use sunscreens on their skin and reapply at least every two hours, especially if you are outdoors a lot or work near a window. Long sleeve clothes, of whatever color, are inadequate in protecting the skin from the damage of the sun. So, always shade yourself with an umbrella and wear a sun screen with a minimum of SPF 30 written on the bottle. You can also look for terms like 'broad spectrum' specified on the sun screen bottle. This term is still widely accepted to give effective protection from both the harmful UVA and UVB rays.
The UVA rays from the sun age your skin prematurely, causing wrinkles, collagen breakdown and dark spots. The UVB rays, on the other hand, damage your skin. Both rays can cause Malignant Melanoma, which is a dangerous type of skin cancer. Skin cancer is much harder to detect and more aggressive on dark skin than white skin, making it more fatal in black people.
The best way to protect yourself from the harmful rays of the sun is to avoid it all together. Ensure you get your good dose of Vitamin D for about ten (10) minutes before 9am and from 10am to 4pm every day, stay completely out of the sun. For some, this is easy to achieve, for others, this is just impossible. But regardless of how realistic this is, ensure you are daily protected from the sun. Remember the sun is the leading cause of artificial skin aging and don't we all want to look good at whatever age?
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