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Rihanna just schooled followers on wearing SPF year-round

With one expertly executed clapback

By Delaney Loane

Digital Beauty Editor / September 29 2020

With one expertly executed clapback

By Delaney Loane

Digital Beauty Editor / September 29 2020

For most of us, the list of things our mums have in common with Rihanna is pretty short. There’s definitely at least one shared trait though: they’re both all about reminding you to apply your sunscreen.

That’s just what she (AKA Rihanna, not your mum) was doing when she took to social media to share a stunning selfie centred around SPF. “Just protecting my melanin while they try to eradicate it!” she captioned the pic, which showed her keeping her face protected with a bucket hat and a swipe of sunscreen on each cheek.

One follower, however, had thoughts. "It's winter now,” they wrote, alluding to the fact that they figured sun protection was only called for when you could feel or see the sun. Wrong – and Rihanna let them know it.

“It’s the ignorance for me! You gon have wrinkles if you think SPF is seasonal. But continue,” she quipped back in response, proving that a) she’s even more of an icon than we already knew she was, and b) you should never, ever try to school Rihanna on sunscreen.

Of course she’s 1000 per cent right, too (did you expect any different?) – sunscreen should be worn every damn day, rain, hail or shine. After all, if one simple step can help shield your skin from early signs of ageing (ranging from discolouration and skin cancers to, as our sunscreen queen mentioned, wrinkles), why would we ever skip it?

This isn't the first time Rihanna's cleared up an SPF misconception, either: “I think the biggest [one] with SPF in particular, is that Black people don’t need it, and as a woman of colour I’m here to say that’s a lie,” she said during a Fenty Skin Zoom launch earlier this year.

“Growing up on an island, you’re exposed to the sun every day, so you thought SPF was like a tourist thing, and especially not for Black people, [but] I have learned the hard way, because over time the sun wasn’t that kind to my skin. SPF is for everyone and every day."

Long story short? Apply your SPF year-round – it’s what Rihanna would want.