Let me start off my saying I am not a scientist. I know what sunscreen is and what it does to your skin, but I do not know the inns and out’s of the photons and chemical reactions that occur when sun hits the skin. I am reading articles about sunscreen, and wow, there is so much information. I would like to explain all of it, but I just cannot. Experimental researchers who love this stuff can do the homework for us. I want to share my knowledge with people who don’t want to read millions of articles about what really happens when sun hits the skin, and why sunscreen helps. (Most of us are too lazy for that). I will quote smart people so all of us can learn and soak up their informative information. As I learn, so will y’all!
I love the sun. Summer is my favorite season, so I am always eager for it to get here. I love the warmth of the sun, and when the sun is out, I am happier. Rain and clouds make me feel sad. With that said, I absolutely hate winter and being cold. Sure, snow is pretty, and I really enjoy watching it flutter from the sky. But, as a kid, when me and my brother played in the snow, my hands froze to death and snow always stung my eyes when we played in it. I am ready for it to go after about a day. Of course, I live in Texas and snow is not something we regularly experience. I have been lucky enough to see snow four times now. Twice in high school, then two days, a few weeks ago when Texas had that horrible winter and ice storm. It was absolutely terrible, some people are still recovering from the power outages and loss of water. They are in our prayers ❤ Now can you see why I love summer?? We had a pool in our house when I was younger. You could find me tanning outside by the pool, pretty much every chance I got. I am one of those people who tan easily and rarely sunburn. If I do, it turns to tan a day later. Needless to say, I was dark when I was little. Unfortunately now, because of COVID, I am white as snow. See what I did there? 😉 I don’t know if I’ll ever be dark like that again. I don’t have that mentality now. I am happy to be white because that means I am not damaging my skin. LET’S TALK ABOUT WHY THAT IS.
Ultra Violet Radiation
Now that I’m done ranting, we can talk about the sun, the number one reason for sunscreen. As I have mentioned in the past, the skin is our largest organ in the body. There is more space for us to care for compared to other organs. Our skin is very susceptible to ultraviolet radiation, which the sun emits. UV radiation is a nasty environmental stressor that can damage the body. Radiation from the sun can cause a lot of damaging effects to the skin, such as aging and skin cancer. The sun’s UV radiation comprises UVA, UVB, and UVC radiation waves. The differences are in their wavelengths. UVA has the longest wavelength at 400-320nm, compared to UVB’s 320-290nm, and UVC’s 290-200nm. UVC is rather harmless and technically doesn’t extend to the surface of the earth, but UVA is the worst culprit. UVA and UVB are the ones we need to worry about, and the one’s our skin directly absorbs. Apparently, if you live around snow, UV radiation is an even bigger concern. According to Dr. Garima and Shankar Suman, scientists that work in the fields of Radio-diagnosis, and Microbiology, “more than 80% of UV rays are reflected from snow especially in high-altitude areas”. UVB rays are the ones that give us sunburn and are a big factor when it come’s to skin cancer. UVA absorbs deep into the skin where our collagen and elasticity are. When the sun’s ray’s hits the dermis layer of our skin, it releases free radicals. Those little puppies cause aging and all that comes with it.
It is a little strange that UVB, though they do not absorb into the skin, is what causes skin cancer. But new studies have shown that UVA causes at least some damage to the epidermis, contributing to skin cancer. The sun has way more UVA than UVB rays, and UVA goes through clouds and glass because its wavelength is longer. Don’t think just because you’re driving in your car you don’t need sunscreen, you do. Also, if you go to tanning salons, UVA are the rays emitted in the booths. Did you know that tanning booths “emit 12 times higher doses of UVA as compared to that of sunlight”? I am never going to a tanning salon again, that’s for sure. Well, that stinks, I love tanning booths. 😦 After one use your melanoma risk (skin cancer) goes up by 75%! When your body produces a tan, that is your skin attempting to block the sun’s radiation. It is technically a good thing, but long-term exposure damages the skin’s DNA. As you can see, UV radiation is nothing to mess around with. That’s what causes dryness, skin spots, wrinkles, freckles, rough skin. Gross, we do not want that. They can also deplete the wonderful natural antioxidants our skins posses. Remember: UVB is the burning radiation, and UVA is the aging radiation. (UVAging & UVBurning)
Above is a VERY popular picture of an older man who was a truck driver for most of his life. He was always in the driver’s seat, of course, because he was driving (LOL), with the left side of his face directly in the sun. He clearly did not wear any kind of skin protection, and this is the result. When I saw this picture, it amazed me. You can see, plain as day, the damaging and aging effects of the sun’s radiation. So YES, you need to wear sunscreen when you drive. I wear sunscreen every day, even when I am in the house. The sun is everywhere if you know where to look.
Skin Protection
The point I am trying to make here is that we need to protect our skin. There a few ways we can do this, so if one idea does not suit you, I am sure another one will. Each of these protectors do different things. Natural antioxidants in fresh foods, such as vegetables and fruit, can help protect you from UV radiation. They help prevent the skin from producing free radicals. There are “dietary nutrients that promote healthy skin, and include vitamins A, C and E, certain fatty acids and many other plant-derived ingredients”, says Dr. Suman, researcher of radio diagnosis. Vitamin C helps with dark spots and hyper pigmentation. Selenium and niacin are other good ingredients that protect the skin from oxidative stress, an imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants in the body. Oxidative stress is basically what we have been talking about here, the damage to the skin by the sun. Green tea is said to be helpful in protecting the skin and body from sun radiation. I love green tea, I prefer to drink it hot. I get HEB brand green tea. Regular green tea is fairly inexpensive, so it’s a simple way to protect yourself from the inside out. Green tea comes in little pouches, but you can also buy bottles of cold green tea. I heat a cup of water in the microwave, then add a tea bag, and let it steep for three minutes. Yum! Green tea is rich in polyphenols and catechins. “Polyphenols are one of the rich sources of anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic and anti-ageing potentials”. You can also apply green tea topically. It combines well with Vitamin C, which supposedly increases the effectiveness of the great tea.
Cosmetic products also help to protect the skin and help repair it. Retinoids, for example, are one of the top beauty products used by women. I have used them myself. There are many brands who claim to contain pure retinol, but retinol is a type of retinoid. You can only buy retinoids, or Vitamin A, with a prescription. Retinol is a lower concentration of Tretinoin, pure retinoic acid, therefore it can sell as an over-the-counter medication. There is a little science trivia for you, it’s confusing, I know. With that said, retinoids repair photoaged skin. Photoaged is another word for major damage and changes to the skin! Retinol can work wonders if you use it long enough. I plan to talk more about retinoids later in my blog, so I’ll leave room for imagination.
Sunscreen is the top sun fighter! To me, anyway. Sunscreen can protect the skin from sun ray absorption and help with reflecting sun off the skin. When looking for a sunscreen, first look for the SPF amount. SPF, or sun protection factor, “compares the amount of time required to produce sunburn on sunscreen-protected skin to the same amount of time needed to cause sunburn on an unprotected skin” says Dr. Suman & Suman. For example, SPF 15 means it takes the sun 15 times longer than unprotected skin to absorb UVA and UVB rays. Be careful when searching for a sunscreen, because some protect against only UVA or only UVB. You need to look for Broad-Spectrum Sunscreen’s. Broad-spectrum means the sunscreen protects against both forms of ultraviolet radiation. There are also different sunscreens; physical and chemical.
Physical sunscreens reflect the sun’s harmful ray’s off the skin. Physical sunscreen stops the sun’s radiation from fully absorbing into the skin. This is what we call sunblock. Chemical sunscreens produce a “filter that forms a thin, protective film on the surface of the skin to penetrate through absorbing UV rays”, basically they absorb and shatter the UVA and UVB radiation. Alot of sunscreens are a mixture of physical and chemical. Common sunscreen ingredients include avobenzone, ecamsule, oxybenzone, titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. Currently, there are only 17 ingredients approved by the FDA safe enough to be in sunscreen. I would lean toward finding sunscreens with titanium dioxide and zinc oxide because they are the safest ingredients to use. Some people prefer physical, also called mineral sunscreen, over chemical because the rays don’t actually enter the skin, but there are others who prefer the chemical sunscreens. It’s all based on preference.
“The other important ingredients in an SPF are anti-oxidants. Sunscreens do not protect 100% from free-radicals so anti-oxidants are vital in and beneath your SPF to neutralise damage. Also feeding the skin from the inside with anti-oxidants such as broccoli for its Vitamin C, tomatoes for their Lycopene, salmon/trout for their Astaxanthin and red grapes (and red wine)for Resveratrol!”
Says Wexford Skin Clinic
Aloe vera is a great natural skin protector. I bet many of you have probably tried to use aloe vera for a sunburn, atleast once. I know I have. It’s good for blocking both UVB and UVA rays. There are other “naturally occurring products like peach, pomegranate, almonds and grapes are rich in polyphenols and have sunscreen action” says Dr. Suman. Of course, the best sun protection is not going out in the sun, but we know that is impossible. If you go out, it’s best to avoid the sun during its peak UV hours, which is 10am to 4 pm. It’s also a good idea to wear protective clothing when out in the sun. They say lighter colors are better than dark colors, because they don’t absorb as much ultraviolet light. Unfortunately, lights and darks absorb almost the same amount, so it’s best to just use sunscreen, hats, and sunglasses.
Please, please, pretty please, wear sunscreen! It is the NUMBER 1 best anti-aging product out there. I honestly wish I knew this earlier in life. I only started wearing sunscreen habitually three years ago. My skin would be amazing and look younger for a much longer time-span. If you don’t use beauty products, or wear makeup, atleast wear your sunscreen. Finished with our sunscreen lesson! Did you learn something? If you did, please post in the comments below. I would love to hear your feedback.
For a list of vegan sunscreens under 15$ visit Ethical elephant https://ethicalelephant.com/cruelty-free-vegan-sunscreens-under-15/
Here is a longer list of vegan and cruelty-free sunscreens from Peta, a tremendous supporter of living a vegan and cruelty-free life. https://www.peta.org/living/personal-care-fashion/top-vegan-cruelty-free-sunscreens/
This is a photo, taken by myself, of the sunscreen I use daily. I have oily skin, so there has been a lot of trial and error to find one that does not break me out or make me super oily. I have tried many moisturizers with sunscreen, but they never work. If anything, they make my oily skin worse, even though it says it’s for oily skin. This sunscreen by La Roche-Posay does not leave any white cast, like sunscreens tend to do, on my face. It dries down to a matte finish and keeps my oil at bay. If you have oily skin, I suggest looking for oil-free products like this one. I have repurchased this four times now. I do want to try EltaMD UV Daily Face Sunscreen with SPF 46, it’s supposed to be great for oily skin types. Here is a link to good sunscreens for oily skin https://www.byrdie.com/best-sunscreens-for-acne-prone-skin-4583018 . This link has my sunscreen on their lists of sunscreens, and EltaMD UV sunscreen I mentioned.
Okay guys 🙂 Thanks for reading! Next time I will talk about acids and Retinol. These are two huge topics to cover, but they are the most effective skincare ingredients.
References:
Suman, G., & Suman, S. (2019, November 18). Ultraviolet Radiation-Induced immunomodulation: Skin Ageing and Cancer. Retrieved March 06, 2021, from https://link-springer-com.libproxy.txstate.edu/chapter/10.1007/978-981-13-2541-0_5
Wexford Skin Clinic. (2018, July 09). Girls just wanna have sun. Retrieved March 06, 2021, from https://www.wexfordskinclinic.ie/girls-just-wanna-have-sun/
SkinCare for Vegan's By Vegan's 