Protecting Skin From The Harmful Sun Rays During Summer– Using Sunscreens

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Summer time is not far. For those of us who will have to remain outdoors for education, work, or anything at all ithis is the right time to learn the ways to protect ourselves from the harmful rays of sun. Let us find out what and which is the best way to do it?Sunscreen is the first thing that comes to our minds when we talk about protecting our skin from sunrays. The important thing here to understand is that applying sunscreen is one of the first steps towards preventing skin cancer. Here in this article our main area of concentration is going to be, how to choose sunscreen and how important is SPF and How to choose it.

Sunscreen lotions and tubes come in various SPF, UVA and UVB permutation and combination. Which ultimately creates more confusion than anything else. Let us learn important points about SPF.

SPF stands for Sun Protecting Factor. The SPF number helps you know how much longer you can stay out of the sun without harming and burning your skin.

Remember the higher the SPF number- the better protection it is supposed to provide against the harmful UVB rays of the sun. But it hardly means highest SPF will give the best protection. An SPF of 50 provides only 1-2% better protection than an SPF of 30. Please be informed that SPF is available in factors from 2-60. The American Academy of Dermatology suggests wearing an SPF of 15 or higher for maximum protection against harmful rays of sun.

Experts recommend an SPF 15-30 with UVA and UVB ray protection. Fair skin is more sensitive and less immune to the damage that the harsh sunrays can cause as compared to dark skinned people. Fair skinned people may choose an SPF of 25-30. People with dark or olive toned skin can go for an SPF15 or more to protect from burning. Sun also harms dark skinned people but less as compared to fair skinned ones. Likewise lips also have o be protected from sun or it can result in burning the skin of lips or lip cancer. It is advised that one applies a lipstick, gloss, or balm that contains sunscreen.

Coming to UVA and UVB rays. UVA rays are responsible for the aging effect of the sun. The more alarming fact is that overexposure to UVA rays can also result in skin cancer. Majority of skin cancer cases are due to over exposure to sun. As far as UVB rays are concerned they are responsible for sunburns and skin cancer. Therefore while choosing sunscreen one should always read the instructions regarding UVA and UVB Protection. One should also keep the waterproof and water resistant angle of the sunscreen in mind. Waterproof” sunscreen should ideally provide protection in the water for about 70-80 minutes, where as “water resistant” provides only 30-40 minutes of protection against harsh rays of the sun.

Apart from choosing the sunscreen its also worth understanding how to apply the product that you have paid for. Unless you apply it properly as per the instructions the whole exercise to learning and choosing the right sunscreen is futile.

Keep this sunscreen, SPF, UVA, UVB bit in mind. Summers are approaching and once they do they will play havoc. Let’s play safe.