Hello everyone! Just one more day to the weekend, are you guys excited? I know I am!

Today I am giving you a few tips (learned the hard way!!) about preventing and slowing the aging process.

I have learned a lot in my years as a beauty blogger, and one of the biggest (and I really mean biggest) things I've learned is that sunscreen is vital.

Sun damage can be incredibly detrimental to the skin. It can cause pigmentation, fine lines, wrinkles, sagging skin, and even worse, skin cancer. The only thing that stands between you and all this, is sunscreen. Of course, staying in the shade is the best way to save your skin, but that is not always possible, and that's where sunscreen comes in.

A lot of people have misconceptions about sunscreen and how to use it, so I am here to debunk some of those myths.

Sunscreen does NOT prevent your skin from tanning, so if you want to bake out in the sun to get a little tan going (which I do not advise at all), please DO slap on some sunscreen because going without won't help your tan, but will damage your skin!

Sunscreen does NOT last all day. No matter how high the SPF, you need to reapply sunscreen at least once every 2-3 hours.

Sunscreen should be applied around the eye area. I know that a lot of sunscreens can be rich, and chemical based, and some people may have sensitive eyes. But find a lightweight sunscreen that works for you, please, because I didn't, and I am paying the price now. Press the sunscreen onto your eye area with your hands instead of rubbing it in, and remember to spread the sunscreen across your palms beforehand to avoid getting too much onto your eye area.

Apply sunscreen at least 15 minutes before stepping out into the sun. This ensures that you are well-protected by the time you step out into the sunlight.

DO NOT skip sunscreen on a cloudy day. Harmful UV rays are still present (up to 80%) on a dark, cloudy day, so always wear sunscreen no matter what.

Some other things that you can do to protect yourself:

Wear protective clothing! Certain clothes have a higher SPF than others, and when you can, you should wear a protective layer of clothing to shield your skin from the sun.

Wear a hat and sunglasses. It's strange that in a tropical country like Malaysia, no one has taken to wearing hats out in the sun. You really should, as hats and sunglasses help to shield your face and eyes from the sun. These places get the brunt of the sun's damage, so if you want to look your age (or younger), try and keep your skin shielded.

When you can, stay in the shade. Shade blocks out the majority of the sun's harmful rays, so stay under a roof or indoors as much as you can.

Tint your car and house windows. Malaysians spend so much time in cars, and the evening rush hour sun can be extremely harmful to the skin.

Also, please, please, please remember that just because you don't see any of the sun's damaging effects on your skin now, doesn't mean that it isn't damaging your skin at this very moment! It takes years for the sun's effects to show on your skin, so understand that even though it doesn't seem like sunscreen is helping your skin at all, it is, and you should be wearing some.

To reiterate my point, I leave you with this link to a news article featuring a truck driver who spent most of his life in the profession, and never wore SPF. Of course, only one side of his face was exposed to the sun, and the sun damage to that part of his face is strikingly obvious.