Get the Most Out of Your Sunscreen

Our modern-day “love affair” with the suntan began nearly a century ago as a status symbol of leisure, wealth and beauty. But today, with so much knowledge of the sun’s power to harm and prematurely age skin, we’re turning to safer, sunless alternatives, and embracing the ultimate answer to this beauty paradox—protection and prevention with broad spectrum sunscreen.

But did you know not all sunscreens are created equal? Understanding how they work is key. May is Melanoma Awareness Month, so now is the perfect time to boost your sunscreen smarts:

• Use a broad spectrum sunscreen. It blocks both types of the sun’s rays: UVB (responsible for sunburns) and UVA rays (the deep, aging kind) from penetrating skin.

• Double the SPF doesn’t equal double protection. The SPF number refers to the sunscreen’s ability to block out UVB rays only. When applied as directed, SPF 15 blocks 93% of UVB rays, SPF 30 blocks 97% of UVB rays and SPF 50 blocks about 99% of UVB rays.

• Apply liberally every two hours. To achieve the full SPF benefit, the American Academy of Dermatology recommends using one ounce (a shot glassful) of sunscreen on your body and one teaspoonful (size of a quarter) on your face. If applied too thinly, an SPF 80 can act like an SPF 3.

• Ingredients matter. Zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are active ingredients in mineral-based sunscreens, like SOOTHE Mineral Sunscreen, which physically block both UVB and UVA rays and are gentle enough for sensitive skin. Acknowledged by experts and the FDA, chemical blockers (like avobenzone) absorb well into skin and offer excellent protection against UVA rays.

• Check the expiration date. Fresh ingredients make sunscreen more effective. Keep your bottle in the shade and avoid leaving it in a hot car, as excessive heat can break down the active ingredients.

• Apply rain or shine. While UVB rays are at their peak midday, UVA rays are present from sunrise to sunset and can penetrate your skin even on cloudy days—who knew? We recommend applying broad spectrum sunscreen every morning, 15-30 minutes before heading outside.

Get to know your ideal sunscreen (Rodan + Fields has 4 facial options depending on your skin's needs!) and combine it with other sun protection measures to stay ahead of melanoma. Wear a broad-brimmed hat and protective clothing when you step out of the shade. 

Erika Kussmann, R+F Senior Director of Marketing and Mother, Talks Anti-Aging

In honor of Mother’s Day, the RF Connection met with Erika Kussmann, Rodan + Fields Senior Director of Marketing and mother of two, to discuss which anti-aging products she won’t leave home without.

What role does beauty and skincare play in your busy life?

Taking care of my skin, morning, noon and night, is incredibly important to me. My go-to Regimen to defend against the appearance of fine lines is REDEFINE. I use it every morning when I’m getting ready, and again before bed. It gently exfoliates my skin so it’s smoother with less visible lines, plus it adds just the right amount of moisture and powerful peptides.

Since becoming a mother, have you noticed any changes in your skin?

Oh yes, ha ha. More laugh lines and more worry lines. And overall, I just get less sleep. As a consequence, I’ve noticed a new wrinkle (or two) and my skin has lost some of its elasticity. I have seen powerful results using REDEFINE Night Renewing Serum and REDEFINE Lip Renewing Serum. Since I started using them, my skin looks firmer and younger, and my lips feel softer and smoother. Also, to empower my skin overnight and boost the results, I use my AMP MD™ Micro-Exfoliating Roller with Night Renewing Serum—so that the little sleep I do get works as hard as it can.

What message do you want to teach your kids about skincare?  

The sun is a beautiful thing, so enjoy it but protect yourself. I have learned so much from Dr. Katie Rodan and Dr. Kathy Fields about the power of an ounce of prevention—that 80% of visible aging is under our control and that it’s never too late to do something about it. So I chase my kids with sunscreen every morning, every day of the year, and I moisturize their skin every night after bathtime. I myself grew up in the age when Coppertone 4 was good sunscreen, and in really strong sun on vacations to Hawaii we’d up that to SPF 6. I tell them how lucky they are to avoid the burns.

Are there any products that you can’t leave home without?

Since I have kids, ESSENTIALS Broad Spectrum SPF 30 Body Sunscreen is always in my handbag, work bag and diaper bag, along with ESSENTIALS Lip Shield for sun protection. That way, if we hit the park or have an afternoon softball practice, I can make sure we’re covered. REDEFINE Multi-Function Eye Cream is also one of my desert-island products I couldn’t do without. I not only use it morning and night, but I bring an extra jar with me to work to brighten, smooth and “wake-up” my eyes throughout the day.

How would you describe your ideal Mother’s Day?

This year I’ve asked to celebrate with a picnic and hike. We’ll be packing our sunscreen, sunhats and sunglasses, along with the cupcakes!

Customer Quotes

Us Weekly: How Do Stars Like Britney Spears and Lisa Rinna Maintain Such Radiant Skin?

It's been featured in Forbes, Vogue, Allure, Elle, Harvard Business Review, Marie Claire, Redbook, Harper's Bazaar, the Today Show, and InStyle just to name a few - and last week in Us Weekly. When celebrities can afford to buy any skincare in the world and they consistently choose Rodan + Fields - it's because it works.

Us Weekly - May 10, 2016

How do Stars like Britney Spears and Lisa Rinna Maintain such Radiant Skin?

Skincare secrets of the stars!  Celebs like Britney Spears and Lisa Rinna are sharing the secret to their radiant glow - they're using Rodan + Fields!

Spears has long been a fan of the brand, ever since her mom, Lynn Spears, introduced her to it. "I'm obsessed because of my mom, who works with Rodan + Fields skin-care line," the Piece of Me performer said, noting the brand's Reverse Regimen and Anti-Aging Redefine Regimens as her favorites. 

While the glam singer is known for her fierce hair and makeup looks while performing, offstage she's a bit more low-key. "I am more of a skincare girl, " she admitted, choosing products over others for hair or makeup. 

Like Spears, the eternally youthful looking Lisa Rinna also relies on Rodan + Fields to maintain her complexion. In fact, she even shares her Unblemish Regimen wit daughters Delilah, 17 and Amelia, 14, to combat their acne and post-acne marks.

And while the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star's looks have raised eyebrows before - specifically with her much talked about lip injections, she's confident in her routine these days, "It's all about taking care of yourself and feeling good," Rinna has said.

Forbes: The Rising Success of Rodan + Fields

 The Rising Success of Rodan + Fields Thanks to Nontraditional Retail and Savvy Women

Nicole Leinbach - Reyhle, contributor

Think you know what a direct-marketing sales rep looks like nowadays? Rodan + Fields distributors often don't fit the stereotype. 

She's the pretty mom at school drop off . . . the friendly neighbor next door . . . the funny friend everyone wishes they had. But even more than being a familiar face, she's often educated, successful and hard-working . . . hardly a combo that lines up with the pyramid-scheme stigma that many customers have when it comes to multi-level marketing companies. 

With some 150,000 distributors hawking its skin-care products, Rodan + Fields reported revenue of $626.9 million in 2015. Getting on board with business kits whose costs range from about $400 to $1000, the dream is of big riches through direct sales and recruiting more distributors, or consultants, as the company calls them - the classic pyramid model of multi-level marketing companies in which the recruiter gets a slice of the sales of those who they sign up. 

It doesn't happen for most. According to a company disclosure statement, the average annualized income for active Rodan + FIelds distributors for sales in 2015 was $3,182 with entry-level consultants making an average of $790.  

But for some this model has proven so successful that in addition to their money earned, they also earn a luxury car in exchange for their high sales achievement. 

Developed in 2002 by two Stanford trained dermatologists, Katie Rodan and Kathy Fields, Rodan + Fields follows the success of their first product line, Proactiv, which has since been sold from the Doctors so they can focus solely on Rodan + FIelds. Unlike Proactive, which was sold primarily via infomercials, Rodan + Fields was first introduced to customers similar to how most skincare lines are, via traditional brick and mortar retailers. Specifically, Rodan + Fields was sold in department store, but the Doctors quickly realized this was not the best avenue for their brand to capture more customer attention and ultimately, gain stronger success. 

"While our brand was successful in department store channel, our vision for Rodan + Fields was much bigger. Recognizing that word of mouth - not the advertising or marketing programs of the stores - accounted for our growing customer base, we decided to create an alternative method of distribution. This method, we know, had to be one that gave the sales commission to the people who loved and recommended our products while preserving the consultative one-on-one experience found in department stores," shares Dr. Rodan and Dr. Fields. 

This new model of distribution would later be coined "community commerce" by the doctors, referring to the "demographic trends of the decline in deparment store foot traffic, the rise of social media, the emergence of the entrepreneurial economy, and the growing interest in anti-aging products and prevention among twenty and thirty something year olds," as explained by Dr. Rodan and Dr. Fields, who Forbes recognized in 2015 as two of the most successful, self-made women in the United States. 

Lindsay Liakatas, a Rodan + Fields's Consultant based in the Chicago area, is among those who was attracted to this flexible, community minded business model. An Interior Designer by trade, Liakatas started her Rodan + Fields business in 2011 alongside her already busy schedule of designing model homes. Having been raised by a single professional mother, Lindsay recognized the personal sacrifices and professional limitations she would inevitably endure as a career woman and mother in traditional business and believed that with Rodan + Fields, she could find the flexibility and financial comfort she was aiming for.

“Although I owned my own business, I didn’t own my time. The developers, builders and housing market owned it. My time with my then 2 year old son was negotiable and it tormented me to miss out on all of the precious things I was not there to witness,” explained Liakatas.

Keeping this in mind, Liakatas gradually grew her Rodan + Fields business since she first began as a consultant – the term Rodan + Field uses to refer to their sales reps – from 2011 to today, where she now drives to playdates and business meetings in a shiny new Lexus , a reward given to those consultants on the Rodan + Fields team who meet specific sales volume goals. Joining her recently in this elite status at Rodan + Fields is her business partner Megan Celba Thomas, who Liakatas actively recruited to join her in selling Rodan + Fields in 2013.

“I knew in order to accomplish something big with Rodan + Fields, I would need a power partner. I needed someone I trusted, respected and admired, so I began to use my social media to track this person down,” explained Liakatas. This person, as it turns out, already had a seemingly full life that was filled with flexibility in time and financial security already – two reasons many individuals sign up to become consultants with Rodan + Fields in the first place. Yet Thomas aimed to “create something of her own”, as she refers to it, while still maintaining the life she already lived with her power partner husband Frank Thomas, Hall of Fame baseball player known as The Big Hurt who played in the MLB for 19 years. Despite being his biggest fan, Thomas embraced the idea of doing something on her own and joined Liakatas as a consultant with Rodan + Fields. As Thomas describes it, “the company had an incredible guarantee that enabled me to try the products and business for 60 days and if there wasn’t a fit, I could return the business kit for a refund of my small initial investment.  I had nothing to lose, and everything to gain.”

May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month!

May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month and after having two surgeries on my face, I am happy to spread the word about wearing REAL sunscreen daily (not the little SPF in your make-up) and the value of always wearing a hat!  Talk to me if you need a good sunscreen/moisturizer - I will hook you up with the BEST!

My 1st of 2 skin cancer surgeries - December, 2013

Sugar Face

They say you are what you eat—so on a typical day, you’re a bright batch of kale and a happy cup of quinoa! But on those days when you’re reaching into the office candy dish by the fistful? Well, that 3 p.m. habit may start to show up on your skin, and not just in the form of a mythical pimple or two.

“Sugar face” is real, The Cut reports, and it’s not as cute as that scene in Gone Girl where Ben Affleck kisses the powdered sugar off Rosamund Pike’s lips.

In addition to all the science-backed reasons to give it up, “sugar face” adds another convincing case for ditching the sweet stuff. It’s no secret these days that sugar wreaks havoc on our bodies, especially in mass consumption. It keeps us up at night, causes inflammation, weakens our immune systems—and it’s actually addictive. When it comes to your face, it’s also not doing you any favors.

Harold Lancer, MD, dermatologist to the stars (including Kim Kardashian and ever-flawless Beyoncé), tells The Cut that sugar breaks down collagen (that bouncy stuff that makes your skin look young and plump) and weakens our immune systems, making our bodies less able to fight off bacteria, which then clogs our pores and leads to pimples. Sugar also triggers insulin production, which can “gunk up” our skin, Dr. Lancer says, and it creates an increase in testosterone, which makes pores larger and skin oilier—turning “beautiful female skin into ruddy football player skin,” he adds.

To avoid a case of sugar face, Lancer says the goal is to eliminate sugar entirely—and that includes fruits high on the glycemic index, like watermelon and cantaloupe, and red wine (#wineface).

So you’ve turned away the candy dish (and Ben Affleck’s kisses)—now what? Dr. Lancer tells The Cut that most people see changes within 72 to 96 hours. “They’ll feel better, their color will look better, their skin won’t be so oily, and they won’t be so dry. Their circles will be reduced, perkier,” he says. Sweet news, indeed.

Dark Circles Under the Eyes are Not Always Genetic

One of the facial features that receives a lot of attention as we age is the delicate area around our eyes. It’s also an area of skin that visibly suffers from all kinds of biological and environmental aggressors—from sleep deprivation to sun damage, and allergies to heredity. When people talk about ‘dark circles,’ they could actually be referring to a variety of skincare issues, each of which may be the result of genetics, the environment or skin changes.

As we age, skin around our eyes becomes thinner and the exposed capillaries underneath can create a bluish undertone—that’s just one type of ‘dark circle.’ For some people, this issue is linked directly to their genetics, but for others, rubbing the eyes too much, inflammatory skin diseases or weight loss and aging could also be the culprit. Avoid tugging or harsh scrubbing of the eyes which can lead to dark, thickened skin. Instead, treat your eyes to REDEFINE Multi-Function Eye Cream, featuring powerful peptides to reduce the appearance of dark circles, while visibly brightening your eye area with optical filters that reflect light.

If you notice puffiness in the eye area (caused by fluid collecting underneath thin skin around the eyes) and or under-eye bags, these may stem from a variety of factors, such as seasonal allergies, sinus infections, crying or water retention. Consider sleeping on your back to avoid fluid pooling in your eye area. Look for solutions that are multi-taskers for your skin, like REDEFINE Eye Cloths, which gently remove makeup while depositing anti-aging peptides to help reduce the appearance of puffiness.

While aging is a complex phenomenon, there are daily changes you can make in your skincare routine to help improve the appearance of your eyes and protect against the effects of time and environment. A consistent approach is key, along with products clinically proven to treat your skincare issues.

Ask the Doctors

How Many Times a Day Can I Repeat the Full Regimen?

Dr. Kathy Fields: Over washing your face can disrupt the skin’s delicate moisture barrier, leading to dryness and irritation. Skin may even produce more oil in an attempt to make up for lost moisture, creating a cycle of oil production and additional skin concerns. Ironically, water can also be very drying because it draws moisture out of the skin. Always rinse with lukewarm (not hot) water to help avoid stripping your skin of its natural moisturizing factors.

Using your Regimen twice a day is recommended—ideally, once in the morning and once before bedtime to ensure that the products are on your skin for at least six to eight hours. If you work out in the morning, use your Regimen afterwards. If you work out in the afternoon, use REDEFINE Eye Cloths to refresh the skin instead of cleansing again. In the evening, apply your REDEFINE Regimen for the second time daily, as directed.

Spring is a Great Time to Exfoliate Regularly!

One of my all-time favorite products from Rodan + Fields is their Micro-Dermbrasion Paste. My customer's favorite too!  This is hands-down the best exfoliator I have ever used. It does a great job exfoliating to turn over your skin and encourage new skin cell growth!   Your face will feel moisturized (not dry!) and feel as smooth as a baby! It is an oil-free, salt and sugar scrub - safe enough to eat if you are doing your lips and a little slips in your mouth! It works great on all skin types, even my sensitive skin men and women LOVE it! I used it on my face, neck and chest and hands 2x a week and love how my skin looks and feels afterwards!  Regular exfoliation is the KEY to great skin!  Then add one of their serums afterwards and who needs to make an appointment for a facial or dermatologist? This is SO much cheaper and way more convenient!