Field Guide to Sunscreen After Sunlight

FIELD GUIDE TO SUNSCREEN AFTER SUNLIGHT

Subject: Post-Exposure Sunscreen Application Cycle Coverage: Seasonal. Peak activity: April through October. Recommended For: Anyone whose sunscreen sits in the bathroom and whose walks happen outdoors.

Stage One: Pre-Walk Non-Application

The sunscreen is in the bathroom. The person is leaving. The sunscreen thought arrives at approximately the moment the door closes, which is too late to be useful without reopening the door, which would add forty-five seconds to the departure time.

This is judged too costly. The walk proceeds.

The governing rule: once sunscreen after sunlight is noticed, it outranks every earlier chance to handle it.

Stage Two: The Walk

The person walks in sunlight. The sunscreen is in the bathroom. This is noted briefly and set aside. The walk is short. The exposure is moderate. The problem, if it is a problem, is manageable.

Stage Three: The Return

The person returns. The sunscreen is remembered. The urgency appears only after the exposure has occurred, which is precisely when its practical utility is lowest.

The sunscreen is applied.

Stage Four: The Resolution

The sunscreen has been applied. The sun has already had its turn.

The person notes that they should apply sunscreen before the walk. This note is stored in the same category as all previous notes about applying sunscreen before walks.

Stage Five: Recurrence

The next walk departs at 10:15am. Sunscreen is applied at 11:43am.

One missed moment gives sunscreen after sunlight a new reminder. The reminder is dismissed because the task now feels close enough to remember without help. The task eventually requires a small emergency to recover from a chain of reasonable postponements.

The small emergency is a slightly red forehead. The forehead produces the most reliable application timing of any mechanism yet attempted.

This guide covers April starts. For May through September, see the companion guide: Sunscreen In Bag Not Applied.