Now just because it is Winter/Spring (depending where you at) right now does not mean one should not be wearing sunscreen everyday! That’s right everyday!
Now I know, I know. Everyday? Yes, everyday! I did not start wearing sunscreen everyday until about a year ago! I thought yeah, yeah, blah blah…. I only need sunscreen in the summer. And even in the summer the most I wore on my face was SPF15 because I was a tanner! I mean there were some summers growing up that I lied out almost every single day! Now at least I only tanned with the real sun and didn’t use tanning beds, because they ARE worse. And now I do have a couple sun spots on my face, not a lot, and they pretty much look like freckles, but I know they are from the sun!
I have research a lot and joined beauty forums, where I discovered skin care products that work for my skin. Of course the products make me photosensitive to the sunlight. And since everybody was so sunscreen obsessed on the boards, I caved. Yes, I did wear sunscreen occasionally when I was outside for long periods of time, but apparently these sunscreens were not stable!
What? Stable? Yes a stable sunscreen last longer on the skin and protects the skin longer than an unstable sunscreen by a couple hours! A stable sunscreen also protects you from both UVA and UVB rays. When I use to pick up sunscreens I just grabbed ones that either had Avobenzone in it or the ones with the Titanium Oxide and Zinc Oxide in it. However there is another ingredient in the Avobenzone sunscreens that can destabilize the sunscreen, which causes it to degrade faster in the sun and be less protective on you!
So yes, you have to look at sunscreen ingredients! It only takes one second to look! First you have to learn about what they mean! It’s pretty easy and you only have to learn the active ingredients. Because the active ingredients tell you how much protection from the UVA rays you are getting. The UVA rays are the rays that causes the aging (wrinkles)! The SPF number protects you from the UVB rays.
An SPF 30 is good for everyday, but you should really put on higher if you are going to be walking around in the sun a lot or at the beach! So remember to look at the ingredients because the UVA protection # is not on the front of the bottle like the SPF.
In the U.S.A. one can now buy UVA protection as high as about 19! This is the new sunscreen that was released last summer, by Neutrogena! The Dry-Touch SPF 55 and 70 with the new Helioplex ingredient! However, a UVA protection of 8 is good for everyday, 19 is great, but 8 is good for everyday going to work days. In Europe one can buy up to about 35 UVA protection! It’s interesting that Europe is so far ahead of the U.S. when it comes to sunscreen. At least the U.S. is finally getting better! Of course I can’t say I was waiting around for the U.S. to get better since I didn’t start wearing it everyday until the Neutrogena sunscreen hit the shelves. I guess I just lucked out!
(I will post more about the importance of UVA protection next time!)
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