What to Look for When Buying Sunscreen, According to Dermatologists

Whether you’ve opted to take a long vacation to a sunny place, or if you’re simply thinking about adding a good sunscreen to your daily skincare routine to prevent the sun from damaging your skin, when going to purchase this product you will have noticed that there is actually a quite wide variety of options among the various brands as well as more specific points.

For most consumers, this amount of options can be a bit overwhelming, especially if you do not have the necessary knowledge to decipher which points to consider and what really differentiates one product from another, in addition to which of the many options turns out to be the most appropriate for your skin type, case, and specific needs.

To help you with this, the best thing you can do is recognize what points are considered the most important by dermatologists, and fundamental factors that will help you recognize all the differences. That is why we have decided to create this article, where we will detail each and every one of the aspects to consider, so when you go to buy you really end up acquiring the ideal sunscreen for you.

If you want to know another way to protect your skin, but in a less aggressive way, you can consult Everything about natural sunscreen

Why is it important to use sunscreen

Many people consider sunscreen to be an unnecessary expense, a product that offers no benefit to the skin beyond preventing it from burning on beach days during the summer but should not even leave the supermarket shelf the rest of the year. This thought, although quite common, is really far from reality and should be changed as soon as possible.

Sunscreen is actually a very useful product, to the point that its use can be considered a necessary step if we seek to develop an effective skin care routine. It should be applied to the skin of both the face and various areas of the body not only when it is going to be exposed to the sun’s rays on beach or pool days, but throughout the 365 days of the year, including the winter months when, out of ignorance, we consider its action less useful.

And although taking some sun does not cause damage, but rather is considered a beneficial action for the skin by providing us with the much-needed vitamin D, it is necessary to be very careful with both the excess and the radiation it emits, which end up being quite harmful to our skin and organism in general.

Prolonged exposure to the sun’s rays, or more specifically to the ultraviolet or UVA and UVB rays it produces, causes the formation of so-called free radicals in the body, which accelerates the process of premature aging in the skin, bringing the appearance of spots, expression lines, or even wrinkles before it is considered normal.

In addition to this, UV rays have the ability to penetrate our skin, degrading the collagen it has and dehydrating it, which causes dryness and also causes the dreaded signs of aging to increase. With this, the skin ends up losing water, with it firmness and elasticity are also reduced, and the marks like expression lines and present wrinkles quickly worsen.

As if this were not enough, exposure to the sun’s rays brings much more serious consequences that are a cause for concern regardless of whether you are one of those who pay special attention to their appearance. UV rays increase the chances of suffering certain skin diseases, including skin cancer, which is caused by alterations in the DNA caused by exposure to the sun.

For all these reasons, the use of a good sunscreen should never be considered as an extra or something merely occasional for the days where it is customary to be warranted, but as a quite necessary requirement that should be applied in our day-to-day life to take care of the appearance of our skin, and more importantly, its overall health.

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Sun Protection Factor, the key point you must know

Surely, more than once you have held a bottle of sunscreen in your hands, and you will have noticed that it has a number on it, this number is usually 15, 30, 50, 60 or even 100, and you may have thought about acquiring one without considering what that number really means and what is the function of that figure there.

That number is never just for decoration, and most of the time it is accompanied by the small initials SPF or FPS, these initials refer to the Sun Protection Factor, and it refers to the specific measure of the amount of UVB light that can be filtered by each sunscreen, the higher the number, the more power or more light the product can filter. This serves as an indicator of the degree of protection provided by the sunscreen against burns caused by the sun.

In this way, we can determine, for example, that a sunscreen that marks an SPF of 15 is capable of protecting the skin by allowing it to be exposed up to 15 times longer to sunlight without presenting burns. On the other hand, one that has a sun protection factor of 30 will allow you to be exposed for a period 30 times longer before presenting symptoms and so on with each of the figures that you can find.

This means that the power of action will not depend exclusively on the product, but also on your skin, since if it is very prone to developing burns more quickly, a sun protection factor of only 15 will not be sufficient at all nor will prevent that throughout the day the sun’s rays end up penetrating your skin and causing sunburns and the other effects described above.

This means that the sun protection factor is a point that is very directly related more to the amount of sun exposure accumulated, and not exclusively with the time or duration of the same in a constant way. This is because among what we must take into account is both the amount of exposure and the duration of the same and its concentration, in addition to points such as the time of year, time of day, climate, and even geographical location since they depend on the intensity of protection necessary.

Another way to determine the intensity of the sun protection factor and that can be helpful when deciding which sunscreen is ideal for your skin, is the percentage of protection or filter that this provides, which is not always exposed on the label of the product you have acquired, but if it serves as a guide if you know how to relate it properly.

It is considered that a sunscreen that shows an SPF of 15 on its label, has the ability to block and prevent approximately 93% of UVB rays from penetrating your skin. A product with an SPF of 30 is estimated to eliminate 95% of these rays, and one of 100 is capable of preventing all the UVB rays that are in the environment, resulting in the alternative par excellence for those who have skin problems.

Take into account your skin type

The sun protection factor is the most important point when determining the intensity of protection provided by a product. But this is not the only thing to consider and it is not precisely an exact rule that should be applied to all people equally, but it has various variations according to your skin type.

It is well known that not all skins are the same, they have different needs that determine different ways of acting on them, something that has been taken into account by the designers of different sunscreens. If you have oily skin or it is characterized by having a somewhat higher ease of developing problems such as acne the most advisable for you will be to resort to sunscreen that is determined on its label as non-comedogenic.

This means that the sunscreen is designed with substances that are intended not to cause obstructions in the pores of the skin, which avoids or reduces the chances of developing problems such as acne or making the skin become greasier than normal. Something extremely important when you’re trying to solve this frequent skin problem.

If on the other hand, your skin is rather dry or has a high tendency to lose moisture quickly, you should opt for an alternative sunscreen that contains ingredients that help you either to moisturize or to preserve moisture in your skin. There are options on the market that include moisturizing cream or ingredients like ceramides or even hyaluronic acid, substances that are very useful to help you protect your skin from the sun while keeping it healthy and smooth.

For sensitive skins, there are also options, since commercial brands have taken into account various factors to the point of presenting us with a quite wide range of alternatives. If you have this type of skin, sunscreens with mineral ingredients will be the winning option. You can find some with zinc oxide, or titanium dioxide, ingredients that will prevent your skin from reddening or inflaming.

Phototype, another point you should always consider

When we talk about phototype we refer to the ability of the skin to assimilate solar radiation effectively, and it is determined by a numerical classification that goes from I to IV, the higher the number, better resistance to the sun’s rays. This point is directly related to our skin tone and may not be decisive for some people, but it is a factor to consider according to dermatologists.

It is well known that the tone of our skin determines certain functions, lighter skins usually have less resistance to light and sun exposure but greater ability to withstand low climates, on the contrary, darker skins are better prepared for warm climates and to face greater direct sun exposure, making this an important point.

If you have a light complexion, you will surely need to apply a more concentrated sunscreen on your body, whether for daily use or for special occasions such as the beach or pool. In this case, the minimum sun protection factor you should consider is 30, and it could be even higher than 50 if you have an extremely light skin tone.

On the contrary, if your tone is darker, your skin will surely have the advantage of presenting less predisposition to sunburn, in this case, it may be sufficient with sunscreen that provides you with a protection factor of at least 15. But, if you plan to expose yourself to the sun for long hours, no matter how dark your skin tone is, the minimum factor will have to be 30.

This can be determined with a very simple formula, and that is that the lower the phototype you have, the higher the sun protection factor you will need to keep your skin free from damage and burns caused by the sun. So when it comes to making the decision on which sunscreen you need, you can take into account the needs of your skin tone, avoiding acquiring a protection both lower and much higher than required.

In any case, you should consider that both the face and the rest of the body must be covered by a protective layer, with the skin of the face being the one that will be most exposed to the sun, it is advisable that on it you always apply a protective layer that has a greater capacity for protection than what you will apply in less exposed areas, so for lighter skins, it may be necessary an SPF of 45 and for browner skins 30.

If you have been exposed to the sun without taking the appropriate protection measures, you may be interested in How to treat a sunburn

Keep in mind the water resistance

The use you intend to apply for your sunscreen also represents a point that dermatologists consider that you should always take into account before going to acquire any type of product. It will never be the same a protector intended for daily use as another thought on vacations or in extremely hot climates, and that is something that has been a bit overstated throughout this article.

With this, we mean that if what you think is to expose your skin to water, or if you are in an area or situation that will make you sweat more than normal, such as an outdoor sports activity, almost by law you should take into account that the sunscreen you apply indicates on its label that it has water resistance, so you will avoid that it comes off your skin and stays either in the pool or runs along with the sweat from your skin.

If you do not have high water-resistant sunscreen, it will be necessary for you to reapply a layer of this product on your skin after you have gotten wet, or that you do not wait more than a couple of hours to reapply it in case it may have run off your skin due to sweat.

If you do not plan to wet your skin throughout the day or you are in a climate that does not imply that you will have high sweating, you can simply apply regular sunscreen, and read the instructions very well to define how often it should be used or if it is necessary for you to follow a particular step that helps you maintain protection for a longer period of time.

This sunscreen without water resistance is advantageous for certain people in terms of daily use, as it is quickly removed from the skin after a simple bath, which prevents the remains of this substance from being impregnated in the pores, preventing the skin from breathing and causing certain adverse reactions in the medium term such as the formation of wrinkles or expression lines, something that you will undoubtedly want to avoid at all costs.

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When acquiring sunscreen it is important that you take into account all the points we have described to you, as these are the ones that according to most dermatologists can serve as a guide or determining factor so that you can protect and take care of your skin both in your day-to-day and in situations where it will be especially exposed. So we encourage you to decide on your next opportunity to follow these steps and acquire a product that is not only functional but also especially thought for you.