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6 Easy New Year’s Resolutions You Must Try this Year

New year, new you. It’s a phrase we are all very familiar with and tell ourselves every 12 months. In a recent study, they found that approximately 80% of resolutions fail by February.

The secret to successful resolutions is keeping them realistic and attainable in a way that you feel progress from the start. Go for the win by focusing on things that give you emotional satisfaction as well as outward results. So, here are 6 little things you can easily do to feel good and realign goals you’ve been carrying for the last few days, weeks or perhaps even years. But, this year is different because it is YOUR year.

1. Get Outside

Almost every year, it seems like people sign up for a new spin class or a personal trainer at their local gym. They dedicate themselves to it for two months and burn out. Don’t worry about joining a club, just get outside. It can be as simple as going on a 30-minute walk before you start your day to going on a quick bike ride around the neighborhood in the afternoon. The fresh air will recharge you! Don’t sacrifice your skin though. Keep sun-safe and cool in a hat and UPF 50+ clothes made for fitness, like those that have cooling technology built in.

2. Sign Up for a Lesson or Class

Never too old to learn a few new tricks! An always popular choice is taking up golf or tennis. Just make sure to cover up for all that added sun exposure! Other ideas could be learning a new language or picking up a new computer skill. You’ll never regret owning an abundance of diverse skills later in life.

3. Rekindle Important Relationships

Life gets crazy. It’s inevitable. But NEVER lose sight of, or become too busy for, your friends and family. Make one phone call a week with a distant friend; simply inviting family over once a month for dinner (delivered if you’re not into cooking); that’s all it takes. once a week, to simply inviting family over once a month for dinner, that’s all it takes, and it goes a very long way. At the end of the day, the relationships we have are more valuable than anything imaginable.

4. Take Care of Your Skin

This is one we are really challenging you to this upcoming year. How often are you consciously thinking about the amount of sun exposure you are receiving every day? Whether you are in the car or at work, there are so many sneaky ways that we are exposing ourselves to UV rays! A good habit to start as soon as possible is applying a broad-spectrum SPF of at least 30 daily. Afraid of needing to reapply or having an oily feel to your skin? Choose UPF 50+ clothing that blocks out 98% of UV rays and never washes out!

5. Indulge Once a Week

A classic resolution, like dieting, can be extremely tricky, hence the reason it is a reoccurring challenge. One of the secrets is balance and easing into it. Start by dedicating 5 days a week of healthier food choices and then rewarding yourself with a cheat meal. If you become too obsessed with it right away you will become miserable, and nobody wants to associate food with misery. If you are struggling with figuring out where to start, here’s a great beginners guide to understanding food.

6. Be Kind to Yourself

Be good to yourself. Do nice things for yourself. Reward yourself for all your hard work. We can get so caught up in our jobs or daily chores and forget to take care of ourselves. Need a spa day? Have it. You’ve been looking at that new bike for a while? Get it. That tropical vacation you’ve had your eye on? Book it. Try and do one thing completely for yourself at least once a week.

New Year’s is an end and a beginning. It allows you to turn the page and focus on the new goals you’ve just created for yourself. But remember, all of this depends on you and how ready you are to commit. Make the most of 2020. We are all rooting for you!

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5 Ways to Protect Your Skin From the Sun

It’s no secret that the most effective protection against the sun is the protection that you wear.

Ever heard of sunscreen? Of course you have. It’s been around for nearly 90 years. It’s a good form of protection from the sun, but there is one catch to its effectiveness – It must be reapplied every two hours. Sunscreen paired with other forms of protection works wonders, but alone it’s just not enough. For that reason, you won’t find any products with SPF in our top 5.

UPF 50+ clothing and accessories, on the other hand, provide the most effective form of sun protection because there not as much of a commitment as sunscreen ends up being, won’t wash off due to water or sweat, and always applies to UVB and UVA rays.

Still trying to figure out the difference between UPF and SPF? Check out our blog on it.

Follow these 5 tips to protect your skin from the sun’s rays.

1. Wear a wide-brimmed hat

Choose a hat with a 3-inch or greater brim to protect your face, scalp, ears and neck.

Coolibar Choice:

2. Switch Out Everyday Favorites

Swap everyday favorites for long sleeve UPF 50+ shirts.

Derm Choice:

3. Add UPF 50+ Coverage

Add coverage to short sleeves when lounging outdoors or performing workouts.

Derm Choice:

4. Protect Over-Exposed Hands

Keep a spare pair of UPF 50+ gloves in your car to protect your hands.

Derm Choice:

5. Use Sun Blankets for On-the-Go

Pack a UPF 50+ sun blanket for handy sun protection when you’re out and about.

Derm Choice:

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What’s the Difference Between SPF and UPF?

Did you know there’s a difference between SPF and UPF? Both have something to do with keeping your skin protected from the sun but mean very different things. Sunlight includes rays of invisible ultraviolet (UV) radiation; overexposure to UV rays can lead to sunburn, accelerated skin aging and skin cancer. Sun protective clothing and sunscreen offer your main forms of UV protection but are rated two different ways with SPF and UPF.

UPF is the standard used to measure the effectiveness of sun protective fabrics. UPF stands for “Ultraviolet Protection Factor” and indicates how much of the sun’s UV radiation penetrates a fabric and reaches the skin. UPF is associated with fabric and you will see a UPF rating from 15-50 associated with products that claim that they are sun protective. A fabric with a rating of 50 will allow only 1/50th of the sun’s UV rays to pass through. This means the fabric will reduce your skin’s UV radiation exposure significantly because only 2 percent of the UV rays will get through. This also means that it blocks both UVA and UVB rays while SPF only takes the UVB rays into account.

SPF is a standard used to measure the effectiveness of sunscreen. SPF stands for “Sun Protection Factor”. It measures the amount of time it takes for sun-exposed skin to redden, while UPF measures the amount of UV radiation that penetrates a fabric and reaches the skin. Remember that SPF only accounts for UVB rays unless specifically stated as a broad-spectrum sunscreen.

Here is a visual breakdown of the two compared to each other.

As you can see when you are trying to keep your skin protected it is important to know the different rating systems. Many skin-care experts believe clothing shields skin more effectively from UV light than sunscreen. Many of us often apply sunscreen lotions too thinly, giving our skin less protection than the sunscreen’s available SPF rating, and we neglect to reapply it as directed by the specific sunscreen that we use.

To receive The Skin Cancer Foundation’s Seal of Recommendation, sun-protective fabrics must have a minimum UPF of 30. They consider a UPF rating of 30-49 to offer very good protection and 50+ excellent protection. Coolibar was the first clothing brand to receive the Skin Cancer Foundation’s Seal of Recommendation. All of our clothing is rated UPF 50+, with protection that will never wash out.

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Concluding African American History Month – Or Not

All this month we’ve been reminding people that African Americans (and others with naturally dark skin) can get skin cancer, too. And, as African American History Month concludes, we at Coolibar would like to ensure that the flow of information about cancer and skin of color does not.

Skin cancer – particularly melanoma – has been shown to be much deadlier to African Americans than for Caucasians. The Skin Cancer Foundation points out that 52 percent of non-Hispanic black patients receive an initial diagnosis of advanced stage melanoma, compared to 16 percent of non-Hispanic white patients.

There are several reasons for this, including that squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), the most common skin cancer in African Americans, tends to be more aggressive and can carry up to a 40% chance of spreading.

But many of us also still believe that African American skin, with its higher melanin content, is just highly resistant to developing cancer caused by the sun. African Americans simply tend to seek treatment much later because skin cancer isn’t top of mind.

In fact, typical African American skin protects at the equivalent of a 13.4 SPF sunscreen. (SPF stands for Sun Protection Factor, and it mostly measures UVB radiation that causes darkening or burning on the surface of the skin). UPF, or Ultraviolet Protection Factor, measures UVB and UVA radiation. UVA penetrates deeply into the skin and is, by far, the most prevalent of the sun’s radiation.

Effective sun protection starts at UPF 30, and should ideally be UPF 50 or higher.

There is more to be repeated, remembered and learned; for example, the Skin Cancer Foundation has some excellent facts about ethnicity and the dangers of the sun.

African American History Month may come to an end. But the effort to defeat skin cancer continues year round!

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One-on-One with Colorescience Founder Diane Ranger

Colorescience founder, Diane Ranger, also founder of Bare Escentuals in 1976, invented mineral makeup in 1977. Later she proceeded to create powder sunscreen in 2004. Colorescience Pro is the 21st Century version of mineral cosmetics stressing that each ingredient in each formula has skin care benefits.  Every product is formulated to offer sun care and sun protection. Only the highest quality ingredients are used and products are formulated in high percentages with research to support efficacy.

The creator of the mineral makeup concept and the Founder of Colorescience Pro Diane Ranger talks with Coolibar about her innovative high SPF mineral makeup collection and how to keep your skin looking better than ever.

People often question if makeup can really offer sun protection. What provides the sun protection in Colorescience makeup?  Micronized Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide. These are physical sunscreens that work on the surface of the skin to refract and reflect the light away from the skin. Traditional sunscreens work by turning light energy into heat energy, which is why most sunscreens make the skin feel hot and sticky. Colorescience Pro Sunforgettable Mineral Sunscreen, Foundations and Primers all offer sun protection that is easy, elegant and effective. Colorescience Pro has the Skin Cancer Seal of approval. Stringent testing is required to receive this seal.

What makes Colorescience different than other makeup brands on the market with SPF? Colorescience Pro uses only physical sunscreens and never uses chemical sunscreens. Chemical sunscreens absorb into the body and generate heat. This exacerbates skin conditions like rosacea, pigmentation or acne. Colorescience Pro uses Zinc Oxide, which is a category one diaper rash treatment, to calm the skin conditions. Titanium dioxide is excited by light and creates an anti-microbial on the surface of the skin. Both of these ingredients will calm the skin and give great sun protection on the surface of the skin!

What skin types does Colorescience makeup work well on? All skin types, ages and genders.

How do you apply the powder for best results?  We are very proud of our self dispensing brush because it makes reapplication so easy. You don’t even need a mirror to reapply throughout the day. We like to say that we have taken the mess out of minerals. It is important to cover the skin surface thoroughly (it still looks and feels weightless), and then continue to reapply and add to the protection as the day unfolds. The minerals are stable and will not break down on the skin the way chemical sunscreens do.

How do you apply the “setting mist” before or after the powder? Is the “setting mist” necessary?  Just spitz the setting mist after each application or any time you want to “give your skin a drink”. As we should drink eight glasses of water for our body each day, our skin loves to be hydrated as well.  The mist adds a boost to the mineral product, making the minerals even more transfer resistant. The mineral sunscreen work very well independent of the setting mist. The setting mist is a bonus to add an even more beautiful glow to the skin.

Is Colorescience makeup water resistant?  Colorescience Pro Sunscreen products are rated “Very Water Resistant”. This is the highest rating awarded to sunscreens. To see just how effective the minerals are, you can go to Colorescience.com and see the “Water Test”. It is a truly amazing demonstration.

How often does it need to be applied to provide sun protection? The FDA requires reapplication of all sunscreen products every 90 minutes.  There are many different factors each person should take into consideration when spending time in the sun. What is your skin type on the Fitzpatrick scale? Are you in high or low altitudes? Are you in the water or on the snow? Are you on medication? What time of day will you be in the sun?  Understanding and respecting the sun are important to optimum health as the sun can be a wonderful thing if we are responsible.

Want to learn more about Colorescience Pro products or shop for their SPF mineral makeup? Visit coolibar.com/colorescience.

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