You’ve probably heard about SPF and how some people go crazy if they go into the sun without it - or maybe that’s just me. But nonetheless, its a sin to do your skin such a major injustice. Here are the reasons why a daily SPF is so important, what SPF even is and how to figure out how often you should reapply.
What Is SPF?
SPF stands for “Sun Protection Factor”, and is an indication of the sunscreen’s ability to protect your skin from UVB rays. The SPF of a sunscreen is often misinterpreted as the amount of time it takes to wear off.
At the end of this post, I’ll share the secret to calculate how often you need to reapply your sunscreen.
Why Is Protecting Your Skin So Important?
If you didn’t know, earth’s ozone layer is going through a bit of a mental breakdown because of all the shit the human race is putting it through. Literally. This is allowing more and more harmful UVA rays into the earth’s atmosphere. UVA rays are long-wavelength radiation rays and cause premature ageing and skin cancer. These are the rays that give you the “tan look”, so pro-tip, don’t tan unless you want to look like a wrinkled raisin. The UVB rays that I was speaking about earlier are of a shorter wavelength but also cause a delayed tanning and burning effect, and are also responsible for the development of skin cancer. So moral of the story, stay out of the sun. Because of our failing ozone layer in the stratosphere, these harmful rays are only getting worse.
Here is a picture of someone who drove the same path to work every day and how sunrays that entered through the glass window, affected the one side of his face.
Seven Quick Reasons To Wear Sunscreen Every Day:
Prevents cancer
Extra hydration
The ozone is depleting
Sun protection can help keep an even skin tone
Slows down the progression of wrinkles
Sun damage can only be seen years from now, and then it will be too late
Sets an example for young and old around you
What Should You Use?
I only recently found out that to protect your skin properly, you need a sunscreen that protects you from both UVA and UVB, because most suncreens just protect you from UVB rays. Luckily the sunscreen that I use from Esse is broad-spectrum, fragrance-free, rapidly biodegradable and coral-friendly. Click here for a link to the website.
The Secret Calculation of Knowing When to Reapply
Basically, if your unprotected skin usually starts burning in about 1 minute, using an SPF 15 sunscreen theoretically prevents reddening 15 times longer. This calculation can’t be applied universally, so for example, mine would look like this:
5 mins to burn
30 SPF sunscreen
5 x 30 = 150 mins before I need to reapply
So, how often you need to reapply your sunscreen, depends on your skin and how quickly you burn. Obviously, this sounds a bit intense. I definitely had some questions when I learnt that I had to reapply every two and a half hours. But, my skincare advisor told me to only reapply this much, when I know I’m going to be getting a lot of sun exposure.
I hope you have learnt something from this post! Perfectly Beautiful provided me with the necessary information for this post. Click here to visit their website.
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