It’s 2011, you know that you should be wearing sunscreen, but so many of you still do not, so I am going to try my hardest to convince you to do the best thing for your skin, and your health. I am dedicating each Sunday to a post about sunscreen because it is that important.
Helping to prevent skin cancer is the obvious reason to wear sunscreen, and I will get there, but starting out this series with that is going to make your run away. You already know it, but what you probably don’t know is what I’m going to share first.
The basic skin care routine should include a broad-spectrum sunscreen; otherwise you might as well do nothing for your skin at all. I’m serious.
The ultraviolet rays coming from the sun can, easily damage the ingredients and technology that make skin care products as effective as they are today. Let’s take a look at Vitamin C. We LOVE vitamin C in our products,
right? It fights free radical damage, it’s a collagen synthesizer, and it can “brighten” the skin. However, topical Vitamin C is extremely sensitive to ultra violet rays, and can become very unstable, if not inert when not properly protected. What that means for you and me is that the active ingredient we paid a lot of money for, can become useless if we don’t wear sunscreen over it. This is true of many of the active ingredients we put on our skin. Responsible product manufacturers take the photosensitivity of the active ingredients seriously by placing them in packaging that is dark, or opaque so that the rays have a harder time doing their damage.
right? It fights free radical damage, it’s a collagen synthesizer, and it can “brighten” the skin. However, topical Vitamin C is extremely sensitive to ultra violet rays, and can become very unstable, if not inert when not properly protected. What that means for you and me is that the active ingredient we paid a lot of money for, can become useless if we don’t wear sunscreen over it. This is true of many of the active ingredients we put on our skin. Responsible product manufacturers take the photosensitivity of the active ingredients seriously by placing them in packaging that is dark, or opaque so that the rays have a harder time doing their damage.
So if I can’t convince you to wear sunscreen to reduce your risk of cancer, perhaps I can convince you by saving you some money.
Important note: Not just any sunscreen will do. To help protect your skin, and the products you put on it, you should wear a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of a minimum of 30. According to the MelanomaCenter.org, a broad-spectrum sunscreen is one that offers protection against both UVA and UVB radiation. This should be considered the bare minimum, and it needs to be applied every single day. WHAT???? Yes, every single day.
I am going to stop here today because this is a huge topic, but this is what I want you to take away from this post:
1. Wear a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of 30, every single day.
2. Not wearing sunscreen over your other skin care products is the same as throwing money away.
3. Look at your skin care products, are they in a clear glass or plastic container, or are they in dark or opaque containers?
Next week I am going to discuss sunscreen as a vital component of any anti-aging skin care routine, even if you’re 20.
Have a great week!
© 2011, OC Skin Solutions, LLC
Yay! I'm doing one thing right!!
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