Sunscreen... for Dummies !

Hi Everyone !

How ya'll doin' ?

Summer is around the corner! Or at the place I live, I would call it is already Summer for it's been few days the temperature is around 80F (27C) in addition to humidity, making it feel like almost 90F ! Gosh, I'm not looking forward for being in 90s degree plus humidity. Imagine about 100F roughly. Yeah..
Anyway, let's talk about sunscreen because it will be our most necessary item in our bag! Well, to me IT CERTAINLY IS! Here we go....
(I collect the materials from many pages, mostly from FDA website).

Why do I need it?
First of all, to avoid sunburn. Sunburn could be really painful or annoying to some people. Secondly, to avoid other skin problems caused by ultraviolet radiation such as aging, wrinkles, dark spots. Lastly, to prevent skin cancer which also caused by UV radiation.

What is sunscreen? What is sunblock?
Shortly, sunscreen is non-colored chemical protection, meaning the ingredients absorb and penetrate the skin as work as a filter to reduce the radiation mostly only UVB although nowadays some have UVA protection. A sunblock is a white-colored physical protection meaning blocking the radiation against UVA and UVB.
Afterall, nowadays many sunscreen lotions offer protection against UVA and UVB, so basically the SPF number is more important. Let's move on!

What is SPF?
It stands for Sun Protection Factor. Usually the range is within 15 to 100.
What's the meaning of SPF number?
Yeah, roughly it's about the period of protection you will get: multiply the number with 'how long you are able to stay in the sunlight until you get sunburn.' If you get sunburn after 15minutes being exposed to the sun, then applying SPF 30 roughly will get you keep protected for 450minutes [30x15minutes].
Now, this could mislead anyone, please keep in mind that it doesn't always work that way! Some notes you need to know:
1. how much of the application. If you only apply sunscreen half of the instruction mentioned, you only have about 1/3 or 1/4 of protection. [using same example above, about 112-150minutes]
2. sunlight intensity. During the day, especially by noon [10am-2pm], the sunlight intensity is the highest while early morning and late afternoon are less intense. Therefore, you need to re-apply you sunscreen most likely during the day at noon.
3. water/sweat factor. If you swim, sunscreen will be washed off. And if you sweat a lot, the sunscreen will be washed off. Therefore, the protection is no longer reliable. For example if you sweat a lot and wash off the sunscreen in 60minutes, you will get sunburn shortly after, although you expect the SPF30 will protect you for 450minutes! Again, keep in  mind that you always have to keep re-applying every 2-hour to be safe.

Which should I get, a sunscreen with lower or higher SPF number?
Higher. Because you will get more protection. I recommend get the SPF 30 instead of SPF 15, even though the protection is not double, but kind of. Keep in mind the SPF 50 only slightly different with SPF 30 or SPF 15. For example the protection from SPF 15 is 93%, SPF 30 is 96-97% and SPF 50 is 98%.
The higher the better, especially if you happen to put only half amount of lotion as in the instruction. If you have SPF 30 and only apply half of the instruction, then you are most likely still having SPF 10 on you.


Why do I need to apply sunscreen 15 minutes before going outside?
to give your skin some time to absorb the lotion into deeper skin layers thus it works longer and effectively.

Well, I think that's all I want to share with you. So, don't forget to put on your sunscreen lotion before going outside, and also put on some lipbalm with at least SPF 15 to protect your lips. It's okay to be tanned but it's not okay to get sunburn!
Keep your natural beauty! :)

xoxo,
-dora-

PS: makeup, lotion, body butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, our natural skin oil, and some ingredients offer a little amount of SPF sunscreen. So, in the case you ran out of sunscreen, grab a little bit of coconut oil and use it as your natural sunscreen!
I might going to write about it later, but it won't be my next blog.

NOTE: I bought all of the above items using my own money, I don't get any benefits from them and I just happen to have them at the moment. I don't intentionally try to promote any of those brands. Please understand, thank you!