Fun in the sun? Wear sunscreen.

Summer is quickly approaching and our winter hibernation period is almost over. Finally! In honor of summer, I thought my first official blog entry could be about sunscreen. There are SO many misconceptions and questions, so I’m going to try to clear up some of that confusion.

Most of us increase our sunscreen use May – August, but if you haven’t heard by now, you should wear sunscreen ALL YEAR LONG!

You need to understand WHY it’s so important and what the sun can do to our skin. Soooo, let's start with the basics. There are three different types of ultraviolet rays:

UVA
UVB

UVC

UVA and UVB are the rays that can harm our skin.

• UVA rays are most frequently used in tanning beds, so it shouldn’t surprise you that they affect the lower layers of the skin and destroy the collagen and elastin fibers, which keep our skin firm and tight. You can remember UVA rays are responsible for Aging.
• UVB rays are the rays that we’re the most frequently exposed to from the sun. They affect the top layers of the skin and are responsible for Burning.
• UVC rays are beyond the ozone and have little effect on the exposure that the skin receives.

How do you avoid UV exposure?

Wearing your favorite baseball cap to protect yourself is helpful, but it’s not enough. Over 50% of the sun’s rays can be reflected off the cement, sand or water and will be absorbed by your skin.

To best protect yourself, wear sunscreen. I recommend looking for a SPF (sun protection factor) of at least 30. SPF refers to the amount of time an individual can be exposed to the sun before you experience redness from the burning rays.

If you apply your sunscreen correctly, a SPF 15 filters out 93% of UVB rays while SPF 30 filters out 97% and SPF 50 filters out 98%. The protection between SPF 30 and 50 is minimal, but there are more chemicals in SPF 50, which is why I think SPF 30 is all you really need.

How often should I reapply?

Sunscreen breaks down in the sun, so you need to reapply. There are a couple of things you’ll need to know to figure out how often you should slather on the sunscreen:

1. You can assume your skin will start to burn in 10 minutes in the afternoon sun without any sun protection. For some people, it’s sooner. For some, it’s less, but 10 minutes is a good round number to use.
2. You should also know that you need to apply sunscreen about 30 minutes before going outside to allow it time to bond with your skin.

Knowing this information will help with the formula I’m going to give you to determine how long your SPF will last. Take your SPF number and multiply it by 10 (the time it takes to burn without sun protection). The result of this number will tell you how long your skin will be protected before needing to reapply. You’ll also need to take into consideration the 30 minutes of activation time to get your final number. Here’s the formula using SPF 15 and 30:

SPF 15: 

15 x 10 minutes = 150 minutes

Subtract 30 minutes of activation time

Total: 120 minutes (You have about 2 hours before you need to reapply)

SPF 30:

30 x 10 minutes = 300 minutes

Subtract 30 minutes of activation time

Total: 270 minutes (You have about 4.5 hours before re-application is necessary)

You obviously need to reapply after activities such as swimming and anything that causes you to sweat.

What type of sunscreen should you wear?

Make sure your sunscreen has avobenzone, oxybenzone, mexoryl, zinc oxide or titanium dioxide.

Always wear a lip balm with an SPF 15 or higher – remember that your lips can burn just like the rest of your skin. Reapply often.

There are two different types of sunscreens called blockers (AKA Physical sunscreen) and absorbers (Chemical sunscreen): 

• Common ingredients in blockers include Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide. They work as physical blockers that reflect UV rays and prevent them from striking the skin’s surface.
• Absorbers include chemicals such as Octyl Methoxycinnamate, Octyl Dimethyl PABA, Octyl Salicylate, Oxybenzone, Octocrylene and Parsol 1979. These ingredients chemically absorb the UV radiation striking the skin and break it up.

It doesn’t matter to me whether you use blockers or absorbers. Some people will have better results with one or the other. Some people say that blockers use fewer chemicals than absorbers, so it’s a more “natural” route to take.

How much sunscreen should you use?

For complete coverage, the experts recommend a shot glass-size amount (one ounce) for the entire body and a pea-size amount for the face. Use a little extra for your neck and chest too.

Layering several products with different SPF ratings doesn’t increase protection. You are only protected to the extent of the higher rating of one product. A foundation with a SPF of 10, moisturizer with a SPF of 15 and a sunscreen with a SPF of 20 doesn’t yield a SPF rating of 45.

Why should you use sunscreen?

Skin cancer is obviously the number one reason to use sunscreen. If that’s not enough to scare you, then vanity is a good reason too.

There’s a great tool estheticians use called a Wood’s Lamp, which utilizes violet rays or black light to analyze the skin and highlight various facial skin conditions such as sun damage (AKA hyperpigmentation). This is what my skin looks like on a regular basis with no makeup:

Below is what my skin looks like under a Wood’s Lamp. See all the brown spots around my nose and beneath my eye? All that will surface in the next 5 – 10 years. Think I’ve gotten better about wearing sunscreen? Absolutely.

If you need some sunscreen recommendations, here is a "Real Simple" article titled, A Dermatologist Picks Skin-Protecting Products.

Dermalogica’s Solar Booster SPF 30 is my personal favorite sunscreen for my face. It doesn’t make my skin too oily nor does it make it too dry. You can purchase this from Baldwin Beauty School (where I’m enrolled) and it retails for $43 plus tax.

If you want to see what your skin looks like under the Wood's Lamp or have any questions, call me at 402.699.3481 and book an appointment for a $30 facial (which includes a skin analysis). In the meantime, remember to wear a SPF 30 before going out in the sun.