We love summer. We love outdoors. We love sunbathing. But we hate the lobster red skin which is extremely difficult to pull off. Whenever the warmth of sunlight rolls around, it’s easy to forget the essentials – applying sunscreen.

In many products that we find on the retail shelves, there is plenty of misconceptions generated by lack of understanding and misinformation. One such product that has had its fair share of misconception is sunscreen. We understand how important sunscreen is in caring to our skin.

When I was 22, I noticed how a younger female friend had beautifully and evenly coloured cappuccino-like tone throughout her body. She told me she was a sun worshipper. Forget the sun I thought. I was most intrigued in how she cleverly achieved the ‘perfect tone’. I found out that she religiously lay under the sun using a sunscreen with sun protection 5 to achieve it. And she kept applying it throughout the day because she lay under the sun for hours turning every part of her body to achieve perfection. Little did I realise that in a few years, her skin had wrinkled and she was no longer exhibiting the radiant youthful looks a person in their late 30s should do.

Recently, I finished a 3km run in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. The run attracted all kinds of runners you would see. From the amateur, casual, fun, competitive, to seasoned runners, all were enthusiastic and overzealous. Besides runners, walkers were equally energetic and passionate including the courageous participants with disabilities.