July offers plenty of opportunities to get outdoors including county fairs, ballgames, fishing, hiking and more but while enjoying these activities remember sun safety.

Whether the sun is out or not exposed skin is subject to sunburn, including areas like your neck, face and ears. UVA and UVB rays cause damage to skin. Sunscreen can be used to protect yourself against UVB rays.

Washington County Public Health Director Danielle Pettit-Majewski explained the best way to protect yourself, “SPF stands for sun protection factor, and it’s protection against UVB radiation. That’s the radiation that burns your skin. However it does not protect against UVA radiation which is what penetrates deep into the skin and that’s what can accelerate our skin to age and can also cause skin cancer. A lot of people look at SPF and say oh, this is 100, great, I’m going to use that. What is recommended, is that you use at least a 15, but really no more than 50, because otherwise it does lull you into a false sense of security that you can be out in the sun for a long period of time without reapplying.”

It is also recommended that you reapply sunscreen every two hours you are exposed. The peak hours for UVA and UVB rays are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.