Kerry Washington grew up watching her mom slather on sunscreen whenever her family was on vacation or hanging out at the pool. And ever since becoming a creative consultant to Neutrogena in 2014, the Scandal star has learned just how important it is for everyone to wear SPF on a daily basis to prevent skin cancer.
“My daily moisturizer always has SPF in it now,” says Kerry, who’s a fan of Neutrogena’s Ultra Sheer line. Kerry adds that the amount she wears depends on how much time she’ll be spending outdoors and how much of her skin is exposed.
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While the media tends to focus on the skin cancer risk of fair-skinned women (they burn more easily than women with darker skin tones), the disease—the most common type of cancer in the U.S.—is actually most deadly for African Americans, as it’s often not caught until it’s too late.
“I think there’s a myth in communities of color, whether it’s Latina women, or those with olive-toned skin, or African American women,” says Kerry. “People who have skin tones that have more pigment tend to think they’re less at risk. But we actually have become more vulnerable because of the thinking that we don’t have to be careful. And we’re lagging behind in being able to protect ourselves.”
Luckily, Kerry points out that there have been major breakthroughs in SPF formulas in the last few years. “Because there’s so much more technology, people of color can use sunscreen and not feel or look chalky,” she says. “I think that has been a barrier for a long time. There’s no excuse anymore.”
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Kerry is on a mission to help women of all hues feel empowered to make smart choices when it comes to shielding their skin from damaging UV rays. “It’s the most preventable cancer, and yet there’s more cases of it than breast, prostate, lung, and colon combined,” she says. “To be able to give people the information they need to protect themselves and not do it would be a crime.”
