The year is 1994; “Ice-Ice Baby” is playing. There’s a woman bathing in Crisco in 90 degree heat.

Get your mind out of the gutter, it’s my mother.  At this point in time, most people didn’t care or even know about the sun’s harmful UV rays.

UV radiation (as told by encyclopedia.com) is a form of electromagnetic radiation that lies between visible light and x rays in its energy and wavelength. It is a component of the radiation that reaches the Earth from the sun. UV is strong and damaging. Sunscreen doesn’t get enough credit.

Just by slathering on sunscreen, people reduce their risk of skin cancer immensely. Everyone should wear sunscreen unless under the age of sixth months. That slimey, oopy and goopey cream that everyone dodges in the summer can really help in the long run. My mother never used sunscreen. Now at forty, she constantly complains about creepy, sun-spotted skin.

A lot of the damage that occurs to people’s largest organ is by sun exposure, and it can be prevented! For the magical lotion potion to work users need to apply it approximately twenty minutes before entering the land called “outside.” Now if sweating it’s best to reapply after two hours.

Sunlight helps in the release of vitamin D in the human body. It enhances people’s mood by waking up their bodies to release healthy and happy hormones. Everyone loves a good healthy hormone! But not everyone loves cancer. Melanoma is a form of skin cancer. In young women between the ages of 18 and 29 the cases are found mostly because of the high rate of tanning bed use in this country (as told by EverydayHealth). Melanoma is very dangerous. It can occur any place where there are pigment-producing cells. This includes entire skin moles, birthmarks and the eye.

The golden rule of sunscreen is to choose a sun protection factor (SPF) of 30 or higher. If you really want to tickle your skin’s fancy, use SPF 50, which blocks out 98 percent of UV rays.

Now agencies and corporations will harp at sunscreen production, saying it’s “filled with toxin and chemicals that practically give you the cancer.” Well listen here if you’re going to buy cheap non-regulated sunscreen be my guest, but you’re practically lathering on goop for nothing. Most non-regulated lotions and creams contain the chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate. They’re absorbed into the skin quickly and can lead to irritation or a reaction. Oh boy this is a hard one. Cancer or irritation? Cancer or irritation? And I say once more Cancer or irritation? Well guess what, you don’t have to even decide. Purchase an FDA regulated and highly recommended sunscreen with harmless ingredients such as cinnamates or salicylates.

So guess what? “Ice is back with a brand new invention-”… sunscreen! No not really, but if only Alesia heard that lyric back in ’94. With all good intentions wear sunscreen, it just might save you from cancer and save future kids from listening to complaining parents.