I’m sure that we’ve all hear that you’re supposed to always be wearing an sunscreen, especially on your face.
But most of us might not know the importance of wearing some, particularly when it’s not sunny outside and it’s dull and grey.
What is SPF?
SPF stands for sun protection factor, and it is used to protect your skin from ultraviolet (UV) rays. There are three different types of UV rays: UVB; UVA; UVC. UVB rays are what you hear of most often. They can cause sunburns and skin cancer. UVA rays also can cause skin cancer, as well as skin aging. UVC rays aren’t too much of a worry to us since they don’t pass the earth’s atmosphere. So it’s important to have an sunscreen that protects against both UVB and UVA rays.
How much sunscreen should I use?
In order to protect your face and your neck you should use about half a teaspoon of sunscreen. If you are also looking to cover your arms and legs you will need about an ounce of sunscreen.
You should always be wearing a sunscreen that’s at least SPF 30 and in Ireland it should probably be water-resistant since it’s so quick to rain.
It typically doesn’t matter what order you put your sunscreen on while using other products, so you should just find what’s best for your routine.
Why should you always wear sunscreen?
- It protects against those harmful UVA and UVB rays. UVB rays can cause sunburns and skin cancer. UVA rays can also cause skin cancer, as well as premature skin aging. As well as decreasing the risk of sunburn and premature aging, wearing an SPF decreases your risk of developing skin cancer. Although it may sound scary, wearing an SPF massively reduces your melanoma risk and any damage to your body that may come with it.
- It reduces signs of premature aging. As mentioned above, UVA rays can cause premature aging for your skin, so if you are using any other products in order to try prevent your skin from aging and you aren’t wearing sunscreen you are basically undoing any work that you have already put in.
- It’s better than the moisturiser or makeup that you’re wearing that contains SPF. There’s quite a lot of moisturisers and foundations around that have a label on the package that say that they contain SPF. The only issue with this is that the SPF it claims to have is watered down throughout the whole bottle, so you’re never as protected as you might think that you are. You would need much more makeup than you typically use to reach the labelled SPF.
Hopefully this has convinced you to wear sunscreen – but if it hasn’t then it’s your skin on the line! There’s plenty of different types out there so it’s about finding the best one that works for you and adding it to your routine.
