Things you should know about Sunscreen

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We keep hearing about sunscreen every day. But still we don’t know much about it. Here in this article we will answer to all basic questions that arise in your mind related to sunscreen. Also we will discuss few tips to apply sunscreen to reduce the sunburn effect which can be of great help to you.

What is Sunscreen?

Sunscreen is a pharmaceutical product designed to protect skin from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation (UVR). These products contain a physical blocker (zinc oxide or titanium dioxide) which protects the skin from UVB (ultraviolet radiation with wavelength between 290 and 320 nanometers) which can cause sunburn and UVA (between 320 and 400 nanometers) which damages the skin with more long-term effects, such as premature skin aging. Depending on the mode of action sunscreens can be classified into physical sunscreens (i.e. those which reflect the sunlight) or chemical sunscreens (i.e. those which absorb the UV light).

Ingredients of Sunscreen

Sunscreens are made with 17 active ingredients. These ingredients come into two categories: absorbers (which create a chemical reaction to absorb UVR) and reflectors (which are physical barriers that reflect or block UV rays away from the skin). The majority sunscreens have a mixture of absorbers and/or reflectors. They are available in creams, mousses, lotions and moisturizers.

Difference between Sunblock and Sunscreen

Sunblock contains physical or inorganic ingredients that reflect and scatter the UVB light and acts as a wall between your skin and the sun. Titanium Dioxide or Zinc Oxide is the main ingredient. Sunblocks do not protect against UVA rays.

Sunscreen contains chemicals that protect your skin by absorbing and reflecting UV rays and allows a certain range of UV light to be absorbed into the skin. Look for Parsol 1789 in many of today’s sunscreen brands. It helps protect against UVA rays as well as UVB. So, you get a bit more protection.

Measurement of Sunscreens- Sun Protection Factor (SPF)

The SPF of a sunscreen is a laboratory measure of the effectiveness of sunscreen; the higher the SPF, the more protection a sunscreen offers against UV-B (the ultraviolet radiation that causes sunburn). The SPF indicates the amount of UV radiation required to cause sunburn on skin with the sunscreen on, compared to the amount required without the sunscreen. So, wearing a sunscreen with SPF 50, your skin will not burn until it has been exposed to 50 times the amount of solar energy that would normally cause it to burn. In practice, the protection from a particular sunscreen depends on factors such as:

• The skin type of the user.
• The amount applied and frequency of re-application.
• Activities in which one engages (for example, swimming leads to a loss of sunscreen from the skin).
• Amount of sunscreen the skin has absorbed.

How Sunscreen work?

UV-A radiation can penetrate deeply into the skin leading to cancer and premature skin aging. UV-B is involved in tanning and sunburn and can cause cellular damage to the skin and eyes. On entering the skin it can cause many side effects like change in darker skin color, destruction of the cells responsible for making new cells thus resulting in resulting in age spots, wrinkling, and even skin cancer.

Sunscreen contains ingredients that can absorb and/or filter UV-A light from the Sun so that less of it reaches the deeper layers of the skin. Sun-block, on the other hand, reflects or scatters the UV light away so that it doesn’t reach the skin at all. Since the best and most thorough protection comes from blocking both UVA and UVB rays, the ideal sunscreen should be designed to do both. Most sunscreens work by containing either an organic chemical compound that absorbs ultraviolet light (such as oxybenzone) or an opaque material that reflects light (such as titanium dioxide, zinc oxide), or a combination of both.

Tips to apply sunscreen effectively

1. Apply sunscreen lotion one hour before you going outside. During this period the skin absorbed the lotion completely and formed a protective layer on the skin to prevent suntans.

2. Apply sufficient amount of sunscreen lotion or cream on your face and the body. To gain maximum benefits out of it you should apply thirty to forty ml of lotion on sun exposed parts of the body.

3. The people of all ages and genders should use correct amount of sunscreen lotion. Even infants are also required sun protection. Some people think that those who have dark or tanned skin tone, they do not need sunscreens but such people also equally needed sunscreen lotion as people with fair skin do.

4. Only a single sunscreen lotion cannot protect you from ultra violet rays, through the day, because in perspiration the sunscreen lotion is washed away from your skin. You need to use waterproof sunscreens while swimming. You should reapply the waterproof sunscreens when you wash your face.
5. You should apply sunscreen lotion on daily basis because they not only protect you from sunburns but they also help to delay the formation of wrinkles. Sunscreens prevent your skin from dryness, premature ageing and skin cancers’. You should not avoid the application of sunscreen on a cloudy day because eighty percent of ultra violet rays are present on such day.

6. Sunscreen lotion can protect you from suntans, though it can’t effectively protect you in strong middle afternoon sun. When the sun is strongest at that time of the day, you should need the shade of an umbrella to protect your skin.

7. Although, sunscreen lotion suitably protects the skin from suntan, but it cannot effectively protect the skin from the strong mid afternoon sun. During this time of the day, when the sun is strongest, you need the shade of an umbrella or a wide brimmed hat and sunglasses, to protect your skin. Sunscreens with SPF ranges fifteen to thirty are best and protect ninety percent of UV rays.

Hope these facts about sunscreen will help you to protect yourself against the hazardous effects of sunrays. Follow these health and beauty tips and take proper care of yourself by using these easy tips to apply sunscreen!

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