Applying sunscreen is like spreadiing an invisible force field onto your skin. Bright sunny days are when everyone’s thoughts turn to sun protection, but how do these products work?
Your skin can be harmed by two different kinds of ultraviolet light-UVA and UVB rays.UVB rays have a short wavelength but they are the ones that cause burns. UVA rays have a longer wavelength that penetrate deep into the skin. They are the cause of skin cancer and premature aging. A good way to remember this is UV-A is for aging and UV-B is for Burns. There are also UVC rays but they are blocked by the earths atmosphere and never make it down to us.
Sun protection products either absorb or reflect away the harmful UV rays. There are two types of protection_physical or chemical barriers, in most sun care products.
Physical barriers sit on the surface of your skin, like the zinc oxide found on the noses of lifeguards worldwide. This barrier acts like a mirror to reflect the harmful rays away from your skin.
Chemical Barriers soak onto your skin to absorb the UV rays and rerlease them as heat before they can do any damage.
Most people use the terms sunblock and sunscreen interchangeably but they are different products.
Sun Block must have an SPF, or Sun Protection Factor, of 12 or higher and also must contain some type of physical barrier. ON the other hand, Sunscreen can be anything wothn an SPF factor of 2 or higher.
SPF numbers only refer to UV-B protection and there are no guarantees thatyou are protected from UV-A rays.
What do the numbers mean?
An SPF number 10 means that the user can be out in the sun 10 times longer than they could be if they werent using any products at all. At the samt time, a product with an SPF of 8 isn’t twice as strong as one labeled 4.
Actual SPF depends of many things, including how much of the product is used, if the wearer is sweating or swimming, how often the product is applied, etc. Even water resistant products should be reapplied every two hours. Most or the products most commomly used are sunscreens.
For UV-A protection, look for products offering Broad Spectrum Protection because they contain ingredients to ward off bith type os UV rays. These ingredients include Parsol 1789, Mexoryl SX, and Oxybenzone.
We hope that this little tutorial gives you the information you need to be able to buy the right products to protect you when you are out under the sun.