The myths about SPFs

Summer is around the corner dear readers (even for those living in Germany)  and with today’s post, I would like to elucidate all the myths about sun creams. They consist mainly of organic and inorganic ingredients such as titanium dioxide and zinc oxide.

The inorganic components are the most important because  they are non degradable and either absorb or reflect the light. They have been in the market since the late 20s and protect us from the harmful effects of UVA and UVB radiation, penetrating the Earth’s ozone. This radiation is absorbed by our skin, damages the DNA and causes skin cancer.

The majority of us believe that the higher the SPF number the greater the sun protection is. The reality is slightly different though. A series of FDA experiments has been performed and statistically a caucasian needs about 10 minutes sun exposure to burn while darker skin tones need longer. A sun cream with SPF 30 (SPF factor multiplied by 10) provides 300 minutes sun protection and a cream with SPF 50 offers 500 minutes sun protection.

According to a research from the  University of California, sunscreen protection has to be applied every two hours to remain effective. No-reapplication could be even more harmful than no sun cream, due to the extra free radicals released from the suncream chemicals absorbed into the skin.

Some of you might wonder whether the different pricing of suncreams has any correlation with the effect. Every sunscreen product out there has an FDA (Food and Drug Administration agency) approval and it has to perform as promised. The higher pricing of luxurious products has to do with the pragnance, consistence, name and of course packaging.

Stay healthy my darlings.

Let me know if you would more posts like this in the future.

Cheers,

T.