We all know we are supposed to wear sunscreen to protect our skin from sunburns, premature aging, wrinkles and skin cancer. What most people don’t know is without the right sunscreen products and application you aren’t actually getting adequate sun protection. Follow these sunscreen tips below to get the best protection while enjoying the sunshine.
1. Sunscreen should have a minimum of 30 SPF, anything less than that might as well be tanning oil.
2. Sunscreen over 50 SPF isn’t worth the extra money. SPF 50 already protects you from 98% of the sun’s rays. Costing an extra couple bucks, 70 SPF gives you less than 1% more protection than 50 SPF.
3. Purchase sunscreens that offer “broad spectrum protection” to shield skin from both UVA and UBA rays (UVA causes wrinkles and UVB causes sunburns and both can cause cancer).
4. You must reapply sunscreen every two hours to keep skin protected.
5. Water, sweat and moisture degrade the effectiveness of sunscreen, so reapply more often than every two hours in wet or moist conditions.
6. It takes about a “shot glass” full of sunscreen to properly cover your body with sun protection. If you apply too thin of a layer, you reduce the SPF factor of the sunscreen.
7. Sunscreen bottles exposed to heat and sun have a reduced effectiveness to protect you from UVA and UVB rays. The sunscreen ingredients are broken down by sun, heat and moisture.
8. Sunscreens don’t last forever! Check the sunscreens expiration date before using. In generally, you should purchase new sunscreen each summer.
9. Most sunscreens take 20-30 minutes after application to absorb into the skin and reach their full sun protection potential. Apply sunscreen at least 30 minutes before you plan to be in the sun.
10. You still need sunscreen on a cloudy or fogger day. Even if the sunshine is not directly hitting your skin the UVA and UVB rays are, so apply sunscreen when you plan to be outdoors.
