Hi, I'm Julia for Lawn. This is NPR's Life Kit. This episode we're talking about the ins and outs of something

that's a big part of my life right now, maybe yours, sunscreen. As in the different things that are in sunscreen and

namely where sunscreen goes outside of your body on your skin. To share her overwhelming knowledge on this topic,

I'm joined by Barry Hardiman, a senior editor at NPR's weekend edition and a sunscreen evangelist. Hi, Barry.

Hi, Julia. Okay, we're going to start at the beginning. We're going to go with our basics here. Do it. What is sunscreen?

And why is it so important? And why are you so passionate about it?

First of all, sunscreen is the thing that's going to protect you from the sun's rays. UVA and UVB rays, and they each have different effects on your skin.

UVB, think of B for burns, A for aging. That's Dr. Cheryl Burgess, a dermatologist in Washington, DC.

Everyone has to wear sunscreen just like you have to brush your teeth every day. And as long as the sun is shining, we're going to have photo damage.

So the sun protection and sun screens are primarily preventing you from harming your skin or causing sunburns or skin cancers.

But of course, everyone doesn't want to go through the aging process. Me, me, I don't.

So Dr. Burgess recommends looking for a broad spectrum sunscreen, which will tackle both kinds of light. UVB, which is the one that is responsible for sunburns and skin cancer, melanoma, you don't want those things.

And UVA rays, which is responsible for making you look older faster. And truly, I got to say UVA rays are the ones that are really responsible for my passion for sunscreen.

I'm just going to say, first of all, I think we need to accept the process of aging.

I want to accept the process too. I just want to accept it with a touch of a glow.

You know what I'm saying? I can't wait to have a hotty streak of white hair and whatever.

And I want all that. I just want to know that I've also protected my skin.

Okay, fair. That is a fair point.

I guess the way follow-up question is, does everybody need to constantly put on sunscreen all the time?

Because I grew up in a family. My mom has Vidal Ligo, which means that she doesn't have any pigments in parts of her skin.

And my dad is Brazilian and hands very deeply as do I.

And we all had different regimens. There were like three different ways to do sunscreen.

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