Image Source: Skincancer

With the ever evolving concept of beauty, it seems tanned look is the way to go now. Tanning salons can be expensive so many people prefer to lie in the sun and hope that their skin loses the pallor and turns golden. However, being in the sun without protection for long hours can cause a lot of disorders, the worst being skin cancer. Read on to find out how you can use sunscreens to achieve the perfect shade of brown with minimal risk of skin cancer.

What do sunscreens do?

In the simplest language, sunscreens screen you from the sun. To answer the question with a little more complexity, sunscreens block the sun rays from your skin especially, the UV rays. There are two types of UV rays- UVA and UVB. UVA causes skin wrinkling and premature ageing while UVB is said to be the main culprit behind skin cancer. Sunscreens protect you to some extent from them.

What is this SPF?

SPF stands for Sun protection Factor. It basically is a measure of how much of the sunrays can the sunscreen block. A high factor number implies a higher percentage of blocking. An easy way of thinking about this is as follows: If your skin turns red in 10 minutes in the sun when unprotected, SPF 20 will delay that time by 20 times, i.e. your skin will turn red in 200 minutes.

What is the right SPF for me?

That would depend on the sensitivity of your skin. If your skin turns red within minutes of exposure, then maybe a higher SPF is for you. If your skin doesn’t tan easily, a smaller SPF will do. Most face creams contain small values of SPF in them. If you don’t go out in the sun much, this should probably do. If you are planning water sports in the sun, pick water resistant varieties of sunscreen.

How much to apply?

If you plan on staying the whole day on the beach, a hand full. If you are going to be sitting in an AC cabin for most of the day, the SPF in your regular face cream will probably suffice. If you are staying for extend periods of time, reapply every few hours.

Should I apply sunscreen even if it isn’t sunny?

Yes. Even on cloudy days, up to 40% of sun rays can penetrate the earth’s atmosphere and reach you. If you spend a lot of time in the open, you might still turn a little red. Apply some sunscreen to protect yourself from them.

Cut the risk of skin cancer by applying generous amounts of sunscreen.To find about more products that can help you, visit Joy by nature!