Sunscreen
These are some of the things that are highly necessary if you are camping in the warmer months. I can see some people saying that it is a luxury, but if you have ever dealt with Texas heat or Texas bugs you should understand this is a necessity.
Starting with sunscreen. Your headgear will help which is talked about in a different article, but you will likely still need sunscreen. Sunscreen is important anytime you have exposed skin to unblocked sun. This can include winter activities. There are times when skiing that you may get hot and remove your jacket. The amount of UVB rays you are absorbing from the sky and bouncing off the snow can be a lot. Anyone who has lived in a snowy climate knows that when it is right around freezing and there is now wind, it can be surprisingly warm. If you end up in the conditions without a jacket on sunscreen is a very important commodity.
There is spray on and lotion. The spray on is obviously easier and quicker to apply, but hard to do it evenly. The lotion is a bit of a mess, but easier to be assured you have coverage.
The SPF in sunscreen stands for Sun Protection Factor. This is telling you what percentage of UVB rays should reach your skin. Basically you divide 100 by the SPF and that is the percentage of UVB rays that should come through. SPF 10 should allow 10% in, SPF 30 allows 3.33% in, SPF 50 allows 2%... SPF 100 should allow 1%.
Ideally the larger the better, but once you get up to SPF 50 the additional protection becomes very minimal. You will need to reapply every two hours regardless of SPF. But you should also pay attention to how much moisture you are building up. If you are sweating heavily or swimming you should reapply every hour.
It is also important to protect your lips as well. Being out and active in different conditions can cause havoc to your lips. You always want to have chapstick handy that also has some SPF to it as you won’t be applying sunscreen to your lips. At least I wouldn’t, it would taste terrible.