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It’s not the destination itself that decides how much sunscreen you should use when traveling abroad – it’s much more the elements and nature of the earth, that control how to protect your skin from the harmful rays of the sun. You can just as easily get sunburns and damaged skin at your next skiingtrip, as you can at the beach in Thailand. In short, if you are travelling near equator or at high altitudes, you are at an increased risk of the sun’s harmful UV rays.
There is a misconception that mineral UV-filters are better for your skin than the chemical ones. They both provide protection against the different UV rays, but in very different ways. The mineral filters stays on top of the skin and provides a protective layer between the sun and your skin. Where as the chemical filters are absorbed by your skin and will reflect the UV rays.
The main difference is their ingredients. Mineral sun protection contains titanium dioxide and zinc oxide whilst chemical sun protection includes organic and more active ingredients.
So, which one is better for you? Well, that depends on what you prefer. To help you tick off your box, we’ve put together a list of each characteristic for chemical and mineral sun protection:
Mineral
• Typically, thicker in texture
• Non-cosmetic tint that might leave a white cast on the skin
• Do not penetrate below the top layers of the skin and increases the risk of the SPF being rubbed off
• Inorganic ingredients: zinc oxide and titanium dioxide
Chemical
• Typically, lighter in texture
• Invisible formulas that leave no white cast on the skin
• Penetrates the top layers of the skin and makes it more resistant to skin friction
• Organic ingredients
Whether you are in your car, using public transportation, in your office or at home, you are exposed to the damaging UVA rays. These can cause premature aging of the skin like wrinkles and pigmentation. The UVB rays are not able to penetrate glass and therefore can’t damage the skin in these situations, but the UVA rays penetrate glass and can create DNA damages in your skin that can cause this premature aging and increase the risk of other skin complications. Meaning it is crucial to use a broad-spectrum UVA and UVB sunscreen, and that you look for a protection with a high UVA protection factor. In EU it’s required that all sunscreens contains at least 1/3 of the SPF in UVA protection meaning that a SPF 30 must contain at least a UVA PF of 10. However in P20 sunscreens the UVA PF is more than twice as high as EU requires – providing you with an optimal UVA protection.
There is a common misconception that you only need sun protection when you’re chasing the sun on hot summer days. However, most skin damage, like wrinkles, premature ageing and redness happens every day all year due to harmful UVA rays. That means that your skin is damaged over a lifetime whether you burn or not, and it is important to stay protected every day.
But what if I wake up to a grey and cloudy day? Even on those days, when you can’t see or feel the sun, it’s always there. In fact, up to 80% of the sun’s rays can pass through clouds and cause skin damage – and worst of all passes through windows of your house or car. So, rain or shine – make sure to always stay protected.
You know that we are supposed to get our vital Vitamin D from the ray of the sun – and you also know that we must use sunscreen to protect us from the ray of the sun. It sounds like a classic contradiction, right? How are we supposed to get our daily dose of Vitamin D, if we block it with sun protection?
You only need 10 minutes in the sun to obtain the right amount of Vitamin D and that doesn’t necessarily means lying face up in the sun, but rather that you spend time outside walking to the office, gardening, exercising etc. No sun protection blocks 100% of the rays, so it all adds up.
You might have noticed that makeup and sun protection no longer is two separate concepts. There is a wonderful world of make-up with SPF out there, like moisturizers, foundations and even powders – but before you get ahead of yourself and think that you can skip sun protection just by applying your daily makeup routine, we must stop you. Makeup with SPF can’t replace regular, daily sun protection – and it shouldn’t. Why, you ask? Because the amount of makeup you apply to your skin is minimal and does not stand a chance to getting you the full SPF number your skin needs. That’s not to say that you get a little more protection with SPF makeup, but it is not strong enough to protect you on its own.
We will be the first to admit that the sweet waiting time can be filled with anticipation and worries, hence we all want to do what is best for our little ones. There has been a lot of discussion regarding whether sunscreens are safe to use during pregnancy. Your concern and awareness about ingredients often increase as there are a lot of different opinions and voices about this. But make no mistake, you absolutely must use sun protection while you’re both pregnant and breastfeeding. You might have your own favorite, but the most important aspect is that you use a broad-spectrum sun cream which offers protection against UVA and UVB rays.
As a parent it’s a daily task to take precautions to protect your sweethearts – especially from the sun. The best advice is to keep children out of direct sunlight as studies shows that most of the sun damage suffered by our skin occurs before the age of 20.
But to prevent your toddler to play outside in the sun completely is just cruel. Therefore, it’s important to teach your children from an early age how to protect themselves in the sun – and hopefully it will help them develop good habits that can last a lifetime. Try to make the application more fun by getting creative. Here is a tip: Make them guess the picture you are drawing as you squeeze the sun cream onto their skin and tell them they can help ‘rub it out’. Or do a ‘Join the dots with the sun cream, letting them spread the cream from one dot to another.
However, sunscreen application is best avoided in infants less than 6 months as babies have a higher surface-area to body-weight ratio compared with older children, which can lead to a greater risk of an unwanted allergic reaction.
