Good Rule Of Thumb When Wearing Sunscreen A good rule of thumb: Wear sunscreen every day, rain or shine. The question is, how strong a product do you need?
(SPF) of 15 all the time, whatever the climate or season. So get your daily does of SPF 15 in a regular sunscreen or moisturizers or foundations with added sunscreens. SPF 30: Extra protection. If you’re planning an all-day jaunt to the beach, park or golf course, use a sunblock or sunscreen with an SPF of up to 30. Use these industrial-strength sunscreens as a matter of course if you have very fair skin and burn or freckle easily or are located closer to the equator or at higher altitudes, where the sun’s rays are most intense. Yet there’s no need to go overboard with an SPF of 40 or 50: Most dermatologists feel that SPFs over 30 don’t provide much additional protection. Screening out wrinkles You’re baking in the sun and feeling virtuous: You’re slathered with a sunscreen whose label sports a double-digit SPF number. Good for you, right? Right – except that your sunscreen may be filtering out only a fraction of the sun’s damaging rays. You’re exposed to two kinds of ultraviolet light: ultraviolet-B (UVB), the so-called burning rays, which are more prevalent in summer and strongest at midday, and ultraviolet-A (UVA), which aren’ t as strong as UVB but reach the earth year-round and in greater amounts. At one time, experts thought only UVB caused skin cancer and photoaging. It now appears that UVA can lead to both of these skin villains, just more slowly than UVB. UVA also passes through clouds and glass – and most sunscreens, many of which absorb only UVB. The upshot: It’s vital to protect your health as well as your complexion with a with a strong sunscreen that absorbs both UVB and UVA. |
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