Skin and Sun in the Canary Islands: How to Protect It All Year Round

The Canary Islands have the highest ultraviolet radiation levels in Spain throughout the entire year, not just in summer. That is why the regional health authorities recommend using sun protection permanently — including on cloudy days and even when you are not going to the beach.

The Canary Health Service grades daily risk on five levels — low, moderate, high, very high and extreme — with extreme corresponding to a UV index of 11 or above. In summer it is not unusual for several municipalities across the islands to wake up at very high or extreme risk for days in a row.

Four local factors combine to punish your skin far more than most people realise:

• Subtropical latitude: the sun sits far more directly overhead than on the mainland. At the same hour of the same day, the radiation reaching you in Las Palmas is significantly stronger.
• The trade wind: constant breeze cools the skin and removes the burning sensation that would normally warn you. It is the number one cause of accidental sunburn here.
• Reflection from sea and sand: water and pale sand bounce a meaningful share of radiation back upwards. A parasol protects you from what falls, not from what reflects.
• Twelve months of outdoor living: terraces, walks along Las Canteras, midday sport. Exposure is not occasional — it is daily and cumulative.

Which brings us to the key concept: photoageing. Most of what we recognise as "aged" facial skin — pigmentation, fine lines, loss of firmness, uneven texture — is not written by the calendar but by years of accumulated sun. The good news is that it is the part of ageing you can genuinely do something about.

UVB rays burn, UVA rays age. UVA penetrates deeper, passes through clouds and glass, and stays at roughly the same intensity all year. A sunscreen that only filters UVB will spare you the burn but not the pigmentation or the wrinkles.

Understanding what each type of radiation does is what lets you choose the right product at the pharmacy:

Two practical takeaways. First: if pigmentation is your concern, the SPF number matters less than the UVA seal and than applying it consistently. Second: if you have melasma or a tendency to pigment, a tinted sunscreen will protect you considerably better than a transparent one, because the pigments block the visible light a colourless filter lets straight through.

In the Canary Islands the sensible choice is SPF 50+ with UVA protection on your face, every day of the year, applied in sufficient quantity and reapplied every two hours of exposure. The most common mistake is not picking the wrong product — it is using far too little of it.

SPF values are measured in the lab using a very generous amount of product. In real life most people apply between a third and a half of what is needed, so an SPF 50 behaves like an SPF 15. The practical rule for your face:

• The two-finger rule: squeeze a line of product along your index and middle fingers, from base to tip. That is the dose for face and neck. It looks like a lot. It is the correct amount.
• Reapply every two hours outdoors, and always after swimming, sweating or towelling dry. "Water resistant" does not mean permanent.
• Do not forget the orphan zones: ears, back of the neck, décolletage, backs of the hands and around the lips. These are where pigmentation shows up first and where nobody applies anything.
• Match the texture to your skin: fluid or gel-cream for oily or acne-prone skin; cream or lotion for dry skin. The best sunscreen is the one you will actually put on every morning.
• Sticks and mists are for touch-ups, not for your main application — reaching the required quantity with them is practically impossible.
• Check the expiry date and the open-jar symbol (12M, 6M). Last summer's bottle, after months in the car or the beach bag, has lost effectiveness.

One last note on order: sunscreen always goes at the end of your skincare routine, after moisturiser and before make-up. Never mixed with another product in your palm — that dilutes the filter.

An effective routine in the Canary climate has two distinct jobs: mornings protect, nights repair. Four steps in the morning and three at night are more than enough to keep skin healthy.

You do not need a shelf full of bottles. You need consistency:

Two important warnings in a climate like ours. First: the double cleanse at night is not a Korean-routine indulgence. Water-resistant sunscreen is engineered precisely not to wash off with water; if you do not remove it properly you end up with clogged pores and breakouts you will then blame on your moisturiser. Second: retinoids and exfoliating acids increase sun sensitivity. Use them at night only, and never without protection the next day, or the result will be the exact opposite of what you wanted.

If you are not sure which actives suit your skin, the consultation before any Deep Facial Cleansing treatment includes an assessment by our estheticians with no obligation.

Home care maintains; the treatment room corrects. A deep facial cleansing every 4–6 weeks removes what your daily routine cannot reach — oxidised sebum, sunscreen residue, built-up dead cells — and restores your skin's ability to absorb what you put on it.

These are the treatments most requested through summer and early autumn at our Las Palmas salon, and what each one is for:

One question we get constantly: yes, you can have a facial in summer. What is best avoided is scheduling intense chemical peels or heavily exfoliating treatments during the weeks of highest exposure, because they leave skin more vulnerable exactly when the UV index peaks. Canarian autumn is the ideal window for those: October and November are when we repair the damage summer left behind.

All our facial treatments are vegan and cruelty-free. You can see the details of each one on our Deep Facial Cleansing page, or book your appointment directly here: Book appointment.

None of these is unusual. All seven come up in the treatment room season after season, and every one of them has an immediate fix:

• Trusting a cloudy or windy day. UVA passes straight through cloud. The trade wind removes the feeling of heat, not the radiation.
• Applying sunscreen once, in the morning. After two hours of exposure there is no useful protection left.
• Relying on the SPF in your foundation. Nobody applies make-up in the quantity needed to reach its stated SPF. It works as a top-up, never as your main protection.
• Forgetting neck, décolletage and hands. That is where photoageing shows first and where it is hardest to correct later.
• Exfoliating at home on burnt skin. On inflamed skin, a scrub multiplies both irritation and the risk of pigmentation.
• Not removing sunscreen at night. The silent cause of most August and September breakouts.
• Treating a dark patch only once it appears. Prevention costs one cream a day; correction costs several sessions and months of consistency.

If you recognised your own routine in that list, it is not too late. Skin responds very well to sustained changes, and an in-salon assessment will tell you exactly where to start: Book appointment.