Wearing sunscreen (and general sun protection) might be the best thing you can do for your skin. By protecting your skin from the sun, you are minimizing your risk for skin cancer and damage (visual signs of aging). UV damage has a snowball-effect within the skin and it’s quite challenging and expensive to try and reverse damage in the future.
Using a broad-spectrum sunscreen protects our skin from both UVA and UVB rays. It can sometimes be hard to visualize these rays because we can’t see them with the naked eye. And while you would be half correct in thinking “Sun= UV”, there are some important differences between UVA and UVB rays and both cause damage in their own way.
UVB: B for Burning
First let’s discus UVB. UVB rays make up ~5% of the UV rays in the environment. These rays will penetrate the epidermis (outermost layer of our skin) and are what lead to sunburns. This is a short-term effect from sun exposure and both sunburns and sun tans are your body’s way of showing that damage has occurred. Individuals that have had as few as five occasions of sunburn more than doubles your risk of developing melanoma, a more long-term result.
UVA: A for Aging
On the other hand, UVA rays make up ~95% of the UV rays in the environment. These rays will penetrate deeper in the skin than UVB rays and will lead to enhanced signs of aging in our skin (hyperpigmentation, loss of elasticity, collagen degradation, wrinkles and fine lines, etc.) or more long-term effects. The catch with UVA rays is that they can penetrate through the clouds and through glass. This means that even on cloudy days or when you’re inside, UVA rays are still being absorbed and damaging your skin.
Common myths:
- People with darker skin tones don’t need to wear sunscreen.
- While individuals with darker skin have more melanin, this doesn’t protect from UVA rays.
- If it’s cloudy, I don’t need to wear sunscreen.
- Because we can’t see UV rays and the fact that UVA rays penetrate through clouds and glass, we should not use the presence of sunlight to determine if we should wear sunscreen or not.
- If I wear sunscreen, then I won’t be able to get vitamin D.
- The use of sunscreen won’t prohibit vitamin D production and there are other (and potentially better) ways to get vitamin D.
It doesn’t matter what color your skin is, if it’s sunny or cloudy or if you’re inside or outside, a broad-spectrum sunscreen which protects from both UVA and UVB rays should be worn by everyone, every day.
Explore Thu Brule's Free Spirit Mineral Sunscreen - SPF 40
Elevate your sun care routine with Free Spirit, a mineral-powered sunscreen that offers triple-duty as a moisturizer, complexion balancer, and sunscreen. Created to provide ultimate sun protection while honoring your skin’s health and integrity, this innovative sunscreen revolutionizes the way you shield yourself from harmful UV rays. Free Spirit offers 100% mineral-based UVA/UVB protection with no chemical sunscreen actives.
