“One of the first things I ask my clients is, ‘Do you wear sunscreen?’ and they’re always like, ‘Oh no! I don’t have to!’” Latoya Chaplin, a Black esthetician from Maryland who specializes in Black skin, told HuffPost. “I think a lot of Black women believe that just because they’re not burning [like white people], they’re not getting sun damage.”
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There is a belief that Black skin’s melanin, the pigment that makes skin darker, naturally protects skin from the sun and its UV rays, creating a barrier against the negative effects of the sun. But as Dr. Sheel Desai Solomon, a dermatologist in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, explained, that’s not necessarily the case.
“An African American person has melanin (a natural skin protectant) that blocks UV light up to SPF 13,” Solomon told HuffPost. “This isn’t as strong as the sunscreen (SPF 30 is recommended) which is created for skin protection. Yes, sunscreen is needed.”
