I Started a Suncare Brand—This Is Why SPF Is Essential to My Morning Routine

What's the first thing you do when you get out of bed in the morning? A well-rounded morning routine sets the tone for the day and gets you prepped—both mentally and physically—before you dive into a packed schedule filled with emails, chores, happy hours, workouts, and more. Our series Morning Person profiles those who have mastered the art of the morning routine.

Tune in every week here and on our Instagram to learn exactly how the pros get it all done before the sun comes up, from their go-to breakfasts to their a.m. workouts.

Dermatologists agree: Wearing sunscreen is a vital part of any skincare routine. As someone who splits her time between the U.S. and Singapore, where it is summer all year-round, serial entrepreneur Charlotte Pienaar knows exactly how far a little (or a lot of) SPF can go. Her clean suncare brand Everyday Humans creates skincare and bodycare products that are better for you and for the environment. With Pienaar at the helm, Everyday Humans is on a mission to make the daily essential more accessible, sustainable, and just plain fun. Now, if only we could adopt the same ethos in the rest of our routines. 

Keep scrolling to see Pienaar's essential products and rituals for her morning routine in Singapore—SPF is obviously included!

I like to do my morning skin-, body-, and haircare routines right when I wake up. It helps me get into a productive mindset for the day. Since I rarely wear foundation, my routines take about two minutes max. These five products are my essentials.

I'm a big believer in preventative care (hence the SPF!) and have taken traditional Chinese medicine more seriously this past year. As part of my self-care rituals, I'll try to visit my TCM doctor and acupuncturist once a month to get myself checked up and make sure my body's qi—which translates to "vital life energy" in Chinese—is in order.

I also try to take my prescribed Chinese herbal medicine every day, but it's been hard to keep up with the habit, as it genuinely tastes like crap.

Around this time, I'll make a latte before I settle down for work. I've been cutting down on my dairy intake and have replaced cow milk with soy and oat alternatives. This small dietary change has worked wonders for my skin and gut health. 

We've been a WFH operation since inception, and our team sits across three time zones. It's wild that I haven't met half of my employees in real life, so we keep in touch via a weekly hour-long Google Hangout call.

On today's agenda, we're talking about ways to improve sourcing our packaging and finding better alternatives to virgin plastic. We take a strong stance on being environmentally friendly and are constantly working on innovative ways to reduce plastic use. We've used PCR (recycled plastic) tubes from the get-go, something I'm so proud of. 

My favorite part of the day is hanging out with my daughter, who is almost 4 years old, before she heads off to school. She's been really into ballet, and it's so cute to see her twirl in her tutu!

This is when I'll usually take a break from work to tend to my garden! I've recently gotten into it, and seeing my tomatoes and herbs grow has been such a joy and point of achievement. I can't believe I'm turning into one of those people who talk about their plants… LOL. Then, it's back to work and meetings all day! 

Up next, I'm Working to Make Clean Beauty Accessible to All—This Is My Morning Routine