Summer Solstice Sun

Happy Summer Solstice Everyone!

If your locale is going through a heat wave anything like the south east United States, you know it’s pretty darn hot!

Here in Miami we’ve been fortunate enough to have the ocean breeze to keep the heat at bay… or the bay breeze to keep the heat at bay. That is until last week when we also reached record breaking temperatures of around 98 degrees. Factor in our famously disgusting humidity and it is over 100!

There is little shade here in South Florida, what with our trees being the tall skinny palm variety. So an outing prudently requires sunscreen. But with chemical sensitivity, this can be difficult. My doctor recommended a couple of brands to try, one of which is really quite expensive, so I’ve been using the less pricey one – Vanicream.

Now, using the Vanicream on my arms and legs works fine, I’m very happy to finally have a sunscreen I can actually use without getting dizzy, spacey and headachy as I do with traditional sunscreens. But I still cannot apply it to my face. It has no odor that I can detect, there are no formaldehydes, masking fragrances, etc. But I still get itchy eyes and sinus pressure. So how do I protect my face from the sun?

Luckily for me, on this longest day of the year, I came across a photo of a woman at the summer solstice celebration at Stonehenge in England, who obviously has the same problem. She came up with a very creative way of covering her face from the sun since she clearly cannot use sunscreen. Check out the woman in the short yellow skirt… the one with the horse head on her head.