There’s nothing that screams “summertime” quite like the smell of sunscreen? It immediately takes you back to your childhood, with those carefree summer holidays spent at the beach, splashing around in the pool, and hanging out with friends. Even though sunscreen has been around for years, protecting us and keeping us safe, we often still don’t know that much about it. Like, what exactly is it, and what does SPF even stand for??? So, let’s have a good look at Sun Care and Understanding Sunscreen. That way you can make the right choices for your skin.
What is sunscreen?
Before we get into the particulars of SPF, the first step is understanding sunscreen basics. The sun emits two types of UV rays that are particularly harmful to your skin: UVA and UVB rays. UVA rays penetrate deep into the skin, causing long-term damage like aging and wrinkles. UVB rays, on the other hand, are shorter than UVA rays. They burn the surface of your skin, causing immediate damage like sunburn and skin cancer in the long run. Sunscreen is designed to protect your skin from the sun’s damaging rays. It does so in a variety of ways, including absorbing and deactivating, degrading, and reflecting the rays.
What is SPF?
SPF is pretty straight forward. It stands for ‘Sun Protection Factor’ and it’s a measure of the sunscreens ability to protect your skin from UVB rays. There is a basic calculation: ‘if it takes 1 minute for unprotected skin to start turning red in the sun, then by using an SPF 15 sunscreen, theoretically this prevents reddening 15 times longer.
If you use an SPF 30 sunscreen and it typically takes 10 minutes until your skin starts to burn, by using the SPF 30, you’re theoretically protected from the sun for 300 minutes, or 5 hours.
It’s important to remember that SPF only protects against UVB rays; those are the rays that are causing the “reddening”, or surface burns. SPF doesn’t protect against UVA rays; those are the rays that cause long-term damage including ageing and wrinkles. UVA rays can do a lot of damage before your skin turns red, so this is where you have to remember the 1980’s slogan ‘Slip, Slop, Slap’ and cover up with a hat and clothing.
What amount of SPF is the right amount?
As a general rule, less than 15 SPF is considered mild protection, SPF 15-30 is considered moderate protection, and higher than 30 SPF is considered high protection. An average person is safe using an SPF 30 sunscreen, as long as they’re applying enough and reapplying frequently—but it’s not a one-size-fits-all rule. Determining the right sunscreen for you depends on your skin. SPF 15 filters out approximately 93 percent of all incoming UVB rays. SPF 30 keeps out 97 percent and SPF 50 keeps out 98 percent. They may seem like negligible differences, but if you are light sensitive, or have a history of skin cancer, those extra percentages will make a difference. This is where Understanding Sunscreen and your skin is essential!
The common assumption is that more SPF means more protection against the sun. If applied exactly as directed in a controlled setting, such as a laboratory with a fair climate, a stable amount of UVB exposure, and no other external factors to affect its performance, this is true. But it’s fairly unlikely that you’re applying enough and it’s extremely unlikely that you’ll ever been in an environment of the sort. Also, things like sweating and swimming lessen the efficacy of SPF. Most experts warn that no sunscreen can be realistically expected to work for longer than 2 hours.
What is broad spectrum sunscreen?
As mentioned, SPF really only refers to protection against UVB rays – but those aren’t the only rays that may be doing you harm. UVA rays cause long-term damage like aging and wrinkles, and can do a lot of harm before your skin burns. The fact is that protection against only UVB rays just isn’t enough. That’s where broad spectrum sunscreen comes in.
Broad spectrum sunscreen (also known as full spectrum sunscreen) protects against both UVA and UVB rays. And it’s a must. In order for a sunscreen to be considered ‘broad spectrum’, its UVA protection must be proportionate to its UVB protection. As SPF and therefore UVB protection increases, so must the UVA protection.
How should I apply sunscreen?
Remember when we said that sunscreens only provide the labelled level of SPF when applied exactly as directed? Let’s talk more about what that means.
The first thing to remember when applying your sunscreen is that you’re probably not applying enough. Experts estimate that most people only apply between 25% and 50% of the recommended amount. SPF tests are based on the presence of 2 milligrams of sunscreen for each square centimetre of skin’s surface. That equates to roughly a 10 cent piece sized drop for your face and a shot glass worth for your body. Be sure to get very exposed areas, such as your neck, ears, nose, lips, and the tops of your feet. Aerosol sunscreen is much harder to control, as breezy environments and improper application can leave your skin susceptible, and so we do not recommend it.
REAPPLY, REAPPLY, REAPPLY
Here’s the thing about applying sunscreen: just doing it once isn’t enough. Reapply your sunscreen every 90 minutes. If you’ve been doing a lot of physical activity, sweating, swimming, or towel drying yourself, reapply sunscreen immediately. Remember that sunscreen isn’t only a must on sunny days. Sunny or cloudy, rain or shine, sunscreen is a vital part of your daily routine. Make sure you find a sunscreen your happy to put on every morning no matter what the weather is looking like outside. Even is this means having a different one for every day and one for those active beach days. Understanding Sunscreen and how it works, really emphasises how important it is to everyday life.
Still not sure?
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