It might sound like proactive skin care means the lathering on of lots of moisturizers and other unctions that prepare the skin for the rigors of later life. The thing is that protecting the tender skin of young children is a lot easier than that.



One thing and one thing only makes the difference between damaged skin, with a tendency for problems as we get older. That one thing, especially now that climate change is all the news, will not be a surprise.

That one thing is the damage that our skin experiences from early and repeated exposure to the sun. Now, don't get this wrong, we need sunlight on our skins to provide Vitamin D, which we manufacture internally. We just need to be really careful.

Proactive skin care means taking the trouble to recognize that sun damage is easy to acquire, and doing something about it early on, before sensitive young skins are affected.

You see, as we cannot escape the glare of the sun completely, which would make us ill anyway, there are some experiences that can avoid damage. Much of this issue is to do with proper awareness and that then leads to the proactive skin care which becomes second nature to us.

In Australia, where they do have one of the most intense solar strength of inhabited nations on the planet (partially due to a thin ozone layer), a surge in skin cancer rates drove the authorities there to spend significant sums on raising awareness.

Their proactive skin care "Slip Slap Slop" campaign, which became so well know worldwide, is still very much in evidence today. School children recite the words without thinking about it and their proactive skin care starts very early on.

Particular care is taken whenever anyone is taking part in what the rest of us would describe as just getting on with life. The Australians have come to realize that whilst exposure to the sun for special events can quite easily be managed, it's raising the awareness that just as much damage can be done in normal daytime activities as anything else.

Truth is that he skin is exposed to the sun when walking to and from the office or gardening rosebushes every day.

By 'Slipping' on a tee-shirt, 'Slapping' on a hat and 'Slopping' on some (high factor) sun screen, Australians have started to teach the world the lesson that proactive skin care is now the minimum requirement and not an action of choice.

In fact, when you are with Australians in their own country these days, they are so focused on sun-related proactive skin care, not taking care of your skin properly in the sun is almost as big a heresy as smoking - and many would say, just as dangerous.

Worldwide, we can and must learn this from them and protect ourselves, starting today.