Ban Hand Tan: Anti-Aging At Your Fingertips

I have a farmer's tan right now. Actually, more like a hay baler burn.

I'm not proud of this. Nobody would be. I'm like that one weird kid everyone had in their kindergarten class who assumes that a seat behind the teacher's desk guarantees invisibility, so proceeds to do things like excavate and relocate the contents of his nose in full view of the rest of the class. I can't see UV rays, so that means UV rays can't see me! Guess I'll roll up these sleeves and flop out on the park bench!

In contrast to my lobster-like appendages, my hands are as lily white as the top three inches of my t-shirt covered shoulders. So there's my silver - or at least undamaged - lining: I'm good at loading up on hand cream. The efficacy of the Sephora BODY Nourishing Hand Cream SPF 10 I stash in my purse and use like an addict is obvious. The results are in, and they're still pasty white.

I'm using my tomato-colored limbs as an example of just how important it is to use sunscreen everywhere. Neck and hands especially - they're the most often overlooked, and the fastest to give away your age if you don't show them a little SPF sweetness.

That's not just my exspurt 'pinion, neither. "You can always tell how old someone is by looking at her neck, chest and hands," says Tina Alster, M.D., director of the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery in Washington, D.C. Sun makes you age faster than you think.

So learn a little something from the lobster claw girl. Use Sephora's interactive guide to find your smartest sun picks, and then load up with sunblockers to keep your skin looking human. Not crustacean.