Ok, so this is a sincere advise to people who love to skip on sunscreen. Yes, even I do that!!! Or, rather used to do that and now I have become diligent and force myself to apply the sunscreen everyday as soon as I moisturize my face. The reason is that it helps to keep you young by counteracting the effects of sun rays on skin. And, I have kept my resolve on and off since May so I can safely say that this happens to be true. Daily usage of sunscreen does keep you younger for a longer time or rather prevent wrinkles and age spots which tend to appear as you age. I know it is difficult to find a good sunscreen but for those who haven’t tried, you can go for Neutrogena Ultra Sheer or if you have the dough to spend, I would definitely advise MVO Moisturizing Face Screen or Everyday Sheer Coverage. MVO has physical sunscreens and they definitely work!!! Better than chemical ones and you don’ have to keep on reapplying them all day!!! And, of course, you should apply adequate amount of sunscreen for proper protection. That is very very important. And, do not skip on sunscreen even for a single day.Full strength sunscreen in summers is a must but many people tend to forgo it in rainy seasons or cloudy days or even in the winters. But, on cloudy days, there might be a possibility that UV radiations increase so it is always safe to apply a full strength sunscreen. The reason is that though clouds are handy in deflecting the UV rays passing through them, they also reflect the UV rays if the sun is out and not obscured by the clouds. So, don’t be fooled by clouds and leave the sunscreen at home. And, regarding winters, yeah you can go little less on the strength that is the spf factor if you wish to. But, forgoing it not at all a good idea. The UVA rays specially remain strongest during the daylight hours all the year round.
spf 15 – filters 93.3% UVB
spf 30 – filters 96.7% UVB
spf > 30 – filters around 97% UVB
So, clearly any sunscreen having spf more than 30 is not very helpful and efficient. These are mainly marketing tactics so you can protect your skin as well with spf 30 as you will with spf 100.
I would recommend going for spf 30 in general all round the year because it provides the best protection. It is proven through research that factors higher than 30 do not in anyway provide extra protection as compared to spf 30 so it is better to stick with spf 30 and make sure to reapply it regularly. And, clothing is very important to protect from the sun’s rays. So, do take care that you are amply covered.
Monali Mishra says
wow…i think this post is definitely about me,as i do not apply sunscreen during cloudy n winter days….And i really hate the way i sweat like a pig after applying sunscreen,and some sunscreen broke me out horribly with pimpels.but now on i will never skip it…
Where i live,we do not have neutrogina products available,and many online websites do not deliver to our remote town 🙁 so can you suggest any sunscreen from lotus or lakme or nature essence?And one more thing does ayur sunscreen spf15 really even work? And how should i know if my sunscreen is working or not?
swati says
yeah…the post was for myself too coz I love to skip on sunscreen just coz of the reasons you mentioned 🙂 hmmm from lotus, I can suggest the carrot one…somebody told me it was really good….be sure you pick up spf 30 coz less than that will not protect in Indian weather….and stay inside as much as possible…I am not sure of ayur but check out the ingredient list – it should have avobenzone and oxybenzone both as the ingredients listed…but actually lotus and other sunscreens need to be reapplied very frequently so make sure you do that specially when you are in the sun and not inside….regarding the working of sunscreen, there is no actual way to see if it works or not coz sunscreen doesn’t prevent tanning!!! that’s why go for the ingredient list!!! I shall soon put up a post on that too 🙂
Monali Mishra says
Thanks swati,i will sure first check ingredients and then buy a sunscreen :)And as for ayur sunscreen,it doesnt have an ingredient list,but just the benefit of wheatgerm oil and vitamin E are mentioned,which we are supposed to believe to be good against tanning and sun protective .But i dont think it will be enough against indian sunny days?so,i will just apply it on my feets till i finish my this 100ml bottle. 🙁
swati says
hey Monali…just wait for tomorrow’s post and you will have your answer 🙂 and yup ayur is not the answer to sunscreen so just use it as a body lotion 🙂
dhanu says
Swati, nice post and informative too. Neutrogena has a pool of chemicals isnt it!!!Where can you buy MVO stuffs from?
Hey one more thing….posting a comment on this site is becoming difficult..coz it takes yell a lot of time and it appears only after your approval!! can you do anything….this is one reason i dnt comment on all posts
swati says
hey Dhanu….you can buy MVO stuff from their site itself: http://mvorganics.com/ and in case you do buy from them, do tell them that I referred you…that would be very helpful for me 🙂
yeah Neutrogena has pool of chemicals but it is a good sunscreen…
thanks for bringing the commenting issue…I kept approval thing because I wanna avoid spam…a lot of spam comments do come but is it loading slowly????coz for me it loads quickly…I shall see to that for sure!!!
niki says
is sunsreen works????