sunscreen

A sunscreen does exactly as it's name tells us. Kind of like your front porch screen and how it keeps some of the light out . Buggies too, well, some... sunscreens work in a similar way. They won't protect us from all of the sun's rays, but is our first line of defense.
To really get the gyst of the screen, one must understand what we're protecting ourselves from. The UV rays!

UVB UVA-long UVA-short UVC QVC, blah blah blog!
Here's the long and short of it, hee hee,
Ultra violet light is radiation that travels down to Earth from outer space. It travels like a wave. Some UV rays travel faster than others. As they move towards the Earth's surface they eventually fizzle out. Except for the really fast ones. They keep going, all the way down to the deepest layers of our precious skin ! Bad bad...

UVC rays travel the slowest. We're never even exposed to those because the ozone layer stops them from coming down to us. Well, except for folks living under an ozone hole, but that's another story!
UVB are the "burning rays". They aren't strong enough to penetrate glass. Most suncreens will protect you from UVB only.
UVA are the strongest. These are called the "aging" rays. They can move through glass. They damage our collagen and contribute to skin cancer. This is why it's imperative to wear a sunscreen even if you "never" go out in the sun. Think about your morning commute to work or school. Then think about your ride home. That can be up to 2 hours for some people.

So... how do you protect yourself? With so many products on the market it can be very confusing. Do you find yourself looking through every sunscreen at the grocery store, searching for the perfect SPF, settling on the highest number? Seems like we should use the SPF 75 . We want the most protection, right? Ok, so gimme the SPF 487!
It doesn't work like that.

Do you know what SPF really means? Surprisingly, a lot of us don't. Most of us know that it stands for "sun protection factor", but what does that mean?

SPF is specific for individual peeps.
Go outside and press your finger on your skin. Continue doing this until you see a change in the skin tone. For a fair person, it can take 2-3 minutes. A person with a little more color, it can take 5-10 minutes to see a change.
To make it easy for the math, let's say it takes 10 minutes for me to see a change in my skin. If I have an SPF 30, it will protect me 30 x 10 minutes. That's a 100 minutes. Little over an hour and a half. So I'll need to reapply my sunscreen after that.
I hear a lot of talk about how some ingredients give out after a while. And how you have to use a golf ball sized amount to actually get the true SPF. There are tons of research studies to choose from. I've looked at a bunch. I encourage you, my devoted reader to google it up and look for yourself if you are so inclined.
Go for the brand that is most reputable. I tend to stay away from the grocery store stuff except for Bull Frog. I get the zinc based one for my son. Sometimes I use the Skin C. Physical SPF 30 on him. That's what I use on myself. But I can't bring myself to send him off to summer day camp with a $35 tube of sunscreen. Chances are I won't see it again. So there ya go....mamas, can ya hear me??? Baby boy has the $8.99 Walgreens special. Oh, but I do smear my Skin C. Phloretin CF Vitamin C serum on him before he leaves the house!

So, how so we protect ourselves?
Look at the ingredients. I'm gonna break it down for y'all and make it real simple.

Chemical vs. Physical:
Chemical sunscreens use ingredients like Avobenzone aka Parsol 1789, which BTW, was the first chemical sunscreen to hit the market.
Some other common chemicals are:
Octisalate, Octinoxaate, PABA, Octibenzone, and the latest , greatest craze: Mexoryl.
These ingredients absorb UV light. Some are able to absorb UVA, but most absorb only UVB. They can also be irritating to your skin. Have you ever applied sunscreen and felt like your face was going to burn off? I have. Ouch!!!
If you or someone you love has experienced this, I suggest to go the physical route.
Good ole zinc oxide. Titanium works too. Essentially, minerals. They act like a deflector, the rays bouncing off. Minerals are nonreactive on the skin and seldom cause irritation. Physical sunblocks protect against UVA.
In the 80's, the surf punks were protecting themselves to the max and looking hip as well!

As I stated above, I love the Skinceuticals. They have a patent on micronized zinc, allowing you to have the full protection without the white face.
At Sabia, we also carry Dr. Hauschka, Keihl's, and Jurlique.
I have found that skin type, acctivity and budget are all determining factors in choosing a sunscreen. Try different ones out. See which one meets YOUR needs.
Here are a few suggestions:

OILY SKIN: Active UV Defense from Skin C. - This one uses the latest, greatest technology.
Come in to see me and I'll explain it to you.
Ultimate UV Defense from Skin C.- Has a higher level of zinc to give a more
"matte" feel.
Jurlique Sun Lotion - Light weight, nonclogging.

Keihl's - They make a variety of sun lotions that are lightweight and easy on the pocketbook.

SENSITIVE: Physical SPf 30- Skin C. or DR. Hauschka

SPORTY: Skin C. Sport or Keihl's

AGE CONSCIOUS: Daily SPF 20 - Skin C. It has a nice moisturizing feel for dry skin.

There you have it. If you are still reading this, I thank you for your patience. It's a lot of information. In my Esthetics class, we would discuss this for a whole week. Nevertheless, I feel like this info will supply you guys with some important tools to help you make an informed decision about how to protect yourself and your family from those increasingly damaging rays of the sun.

I'll see you at Sabia....