SPF Skin Care

Beauty it is said is more than skin deep. A rising concern about skin diseases in the past couple of decades has lead to some path breaking research and some much required evaluation of the negligence with which we treat our skin and take proper spf skin care. It has to be realized that skin care is not just taking care of the face. The skin is as much a body organ as the other parts like the fingers or the hair.

First step to preventing skin diseases is good skin care:

The good healthy skin reflects the overall health of the person. In certain medical practices as well as medical systems, the color o of the skin, texture of the skin is studied in detail to determine which type of virus or organism is affecting the body. Jaundice is one such disease which is easily recognizable by the color of the skin and the color of the nails. The nails are after all dead skin cells and any infection to the skin will be immediately reflected in the nails. They become brittle, discolored and scaly depending on the type of infection the body is suffering from.

Dermatologists’ mantra

The American Academy of Dermatology and the Food Drug Administration have categorized six skin types. These types vary from being very delicate, extra-sensitive etc to tough, deep pigmented, insensitive skin.

The American Academy of Dermatology strongly recommends that regardless of the skin type, everyone should compulsory use a sunscreen with Spf or Sun Protection Factor of 30 throughout the year as part of a proper spf skin care routine.

Understanding Sunscreen

Spf skin care sunscreen proliferate the market. There are sunscreens with varying spf factors for specific skin types. Sunscreens come in all types- creams, sprays, gels and wax sticks. While choosing a sunscreen you should ideally chose what suits your skin type.
So, before we begin to use a sunscreen with SPF let us understand the sunscreen SPF ingredients.

The sunscreen is usually water-resistant and composed of the following ingredients:
•zinc oxide
•titanium dioxide
•octyl methoxycinnamate
•octyl salicylate and
•avobenzone aka parsol

Some spf sunscreen brands could offer the following ingredients combination:
•Avobenzone
•Menthyl anthranilate
•Cinoxate
•Ecamsule
•Octyl salicylate
•Octyl mehtoxycinnamate
•Sulisobenzone
•Titanium dioxide
•Zinc oxide
•Oxybenzone

Understanding SPF

The Sun Protection factor is categorized according to its spf strength. The minimum factor is 20 and the maximum is 50. The strength of the SPF means its ability to deflect the harmful UVB sun rays. The strength means the number of hours the protective shield can hold up against penetration and eventual sun burn due to lack of proper skin care.

As most of the skin diseases are caused due to constant exposure to harmful rays of the sun, like the UVA and UVB preventing the occurrence of such disease more important.

Therefore when a SPF 10 is being used it means the person using it will be able to prevent the sunburn for an additional 10 minutes over and above the normal time the unprotected skin would take to burn. Similarly if the SPF is 15, the time has to multiply by 15. This implies that it would take 15 minutes longer to be burnt.

Dermatologists strongly believe that a broad-spectrum water-resistant sunscreen with SPF of 30 and more throughout the year to protect the skin form all types of skin diseases. Additionally the ingredients of the spf skin care sunscreen lotion ensure that the skin will not burn against sunburn. Certain ingredients will also prevent the premature aging of the skin, including age spots and wrinkles.

Of course the most important protection that spf sunscreen ingredients provide is from the occurrence of melanoma or skin cancer. Several other diseases which affect and are visible only on the surface can be effectively controlled by the constant and regular use of spf skin care rich ingredients in sunscreens.

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Spf sunscreens are composed of several chemicals for skin care which give it the characteristic to create a shield on the skin of the body to deflect the harmful sun’s rays giving you good spf skin care. This will help the individual to minimize the exposure to sunlight causing health risks. Following is a detailed analysis of some of the major risks that are caused by the constant use of spf sunscreen lotions.

Oxybenzone:

One of the first ingredients used in the manufacture of spf skin care lotions, to counter the risks of harmful UV-A rays is a chemical called as oxybenzone. This material sometimes proves disadvantages because it remains solid at room temperature. It has a yellowish color and the final product will reflect this color. It is not easily soluble. It does not allow easy absorbency and therefore this chemical has to be used in large quantities and will lead to crystallization. Another recent disadvantage of this skin care product shows photoallergic responses in some of the regular users. Another unfortunate characteristic is that there is UV irradiation by this chemical is therefore undesirable in the final product.

Avobenzone:

One of the most important oil soluble chemical of spf which can absorb light across the spectrum avobenzone is non-toxic and has not shown any adverse affects. But there is no clarity about the degradation products which may cause low toxicity and low use of the spf skin care product.
One will have to be cautious as the avobenzone is absorbed by systemic circulation and can therefore not be recommended for children or during pregnancy.

Another sensitive point here is the use of inorganic sunscreens such as zinc oxide and titanium dioxide will degrade avobenzone. Therefore there is a lot of controversy regarding the combining of both these chemicals.

Octinoxate:

As the spf skin care product like sunscreen is used on a regular basis, one should realize that there are severe side effects caused by octinoxate. It is believed to show infections of contact dermatitis, acne, rashes and even inflammation of the follicles of the hair and skin irritation because of the spf.

1.A more common incidence is dry skin.
2.Some even develop allergies to this chemical when used for skin care.
3.As this topical application shows signs of skin absorption, cotinoxate could lead to developmental as well as reproductive toxicity.
4.It also damages the immune system. The person will be unable to repair the tissue damage.
5.Pregnant ladies should avoid octinoxate as it could lead to effects similar to estrogen.
6.It also causes endocrine disruptions.
7.It also interferes in the signaling amongst cells and could result in mutations and death of some of such affected cells.

Ocytl Methoxycinnamate:

This is also known as ethlthexyl mehtoxycinnamate is less risky in comparison to the other spf chemicals used in skin care sunscreen lotions.
1.There could be very rare incidents f burning, stinging, blistering or swelling by constant use of these chemicals
2.Octyl-methoxycinnamate is absorbed by the body when spf skin care is applied on the skin. Research established this when it was found that a person who applied octyl-methoxycinnamate topically for two weeks, the presence of this chemical began to appear in the urine samples collected from the person.
3.Octyl-methoxycinnamate is known to increase breast cancer cells and this too was established by studies conducted in March 2001 at Zurich University.
4.Octyl-methoxycinnamate also caused estrogenic activity along with increase in the uterine weight.

Several of the other spf skin care sunscreen ingredients too are known to cause minor sun rashes, acne, irritation of the skin, pigmentation etc. The other side effects are not as major as those listed above and can be banded as the natural side effects of using any chemical product on the skin.

Research and further studies into sunscreens and its components are leading to some amazing discoveries. While some of the skin care ingredients of sunscreens can now be assigned as zero side effect ingredients, it is the endeavor of the industry to find substitutes for the side effect causing ingredients of sunscreens.

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For a long time, many people have been aware of the need to cover from the sun, but not always to the extent that it is done today. Once it was learned that sun exposure could cause more harm than good, and that a sunburn could lead to more damage like cancer, the need for protection vastly increased.

The first sunscreens were developed in the early 1900s, but of course, weren’t as effective as the products that are commonly used today. Franz Greiter introduced the sun protection factor, or SPF, into the mainstream as a means of measuring the level of effectiveness of sunscreen lotions, oils and gels.

A topical sunscreen product can be used on your skin to reflect or absorb the harmful ultraviolet, or UV, rays from the skin. Ultraviolet A and ultraviolet B rays can both be detrimental to your skin and even result in cancer.

SPF and Skin Type

The easiest way to protect yourself from the sun would be to stay out of the sun as much as possible. But with daily tasks, it is much too difficult to ignore this situation altogether. The best way to tackle this issue is to face it head on. Knowing a basic SPF skin care regimen for your skin type can greatly protect you from the harmful rays.

Light skin tones will require a higher SPF such as SPF 30, whereas darker skin types can usually get by with SPF 15. If you have very sensitive skin then you will want to use a sunscreen product that is less irritating. Also, people who suffer from dry skin will want a sunscreen product that includes a moisturizer. A noncomedogenic, oil-free sun block will be less likely to cause acne such as whiteheads and blackheads. The least comedogenic SPF sunscreens usually come in gel form.

If you are unsure of what SPF number is best for your skin, here is one way of finding out. If you typically start to burn after 15 minutes of sun exposure and you apply a sunscreen with SPF 15, then you will have protection for 15 times your usual amount, as in 225 minutes, which equates to three hours and 45 minutes of sun protection.

Your skin will be best protected if you use a sunscreen with a high SPF and broad spectrum that will fight against UVA and UVB rays. Sunscreen also diminishes the signs of overexposure like age lines and flaky skin. Your SPF skin care should be complete with a moisturizing lotion to stop dryness and a noncomedogenic gel that won’t clog pores.

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There is a spectrum of sun rays that cause a lot of harm to the skin such as skin cancer of melanoma and innumerable less common disease. Besides there are several types of skin the world over. Therefore each skin type reacts in a particular manner with these harmful rays and requires different types of skin care. Therefore American Association of Dermatologists and The Food Administration Agency have made several recommendations to the people.They have published across several media the necessary precautions every single person will have to take for skin disease prevention. The Dermatologists recommend the use of spf skin care in the form of sunscreen as an everyday routine.

Additionally they recommend that the sunscreen have a Sun Protection Factor of about 30 for everyday use. This will have to be applied almost half an hour to twenty minutes before you expose your skin to the sun. This buffer time is required for the sunscreen ingredients to penetrate your skin and become ready to shield the skin from being the harmful rays and help in skin care.

The first thing to know about spf included sunscreen is that they are available as over the counter products in wide-ranging and mind-boggling varieties. Creams, lotions, gels, sprays and wax sticks are some of the forms and the ingredients used to make these spf skin care and other products.
The second thing to understand about applying the spf included sunscreen is that these need to be selected according to your individual skin type. Moreover different parts of the body require different forms for effective skin care.

Hence:

-For hairy regions like men’s chest etc, gels are ideal.
-For dry skin, creams are recommended.
-As creams are thicker it is ideally suited to apply on the face
-For around the eyes, the wax sticks of spf included sunscreen are the most ideal
-For children and skin that is ultra sensitive to sunscreen, special sunscreens are recommended.
Despite all this information available most dermatologists are peeved because studies and observation has proved that the sunscreens are being applied wrongly by most people. Thus, there is lack of effective spf skin care and hence there is no effective prevention against the risks of skin cancer.

The experts have observed the following:

1.Very less: Dermatologists suggest that adults require the minimum of a shot glass full of sunscreen lotion for each application and good spf skin care. This should be applied at least two hours in advance. This will give the sunscreen the time to penetrate deep into the skin and create a shield or a barrier which will deflect the harmful rays from penetrating the skin.

2.Very Late: The timing of the application is very important. If you merely apply the sunscreen and walk out into the sun, then the sunscreen will not be beneficial. It definitely requires that buffer time of a minimum of 20 minutes, before you expose your skin.

3.Very far away: As a rule sunscreen sprays with spf are used to protect the children from being harmed by the harmful rays of the sun. What experts have noticed is that the mothers would spray from too far a distance for the sunscreen to coat the child evenly and create the invisible shield against harmful risks of sunburn and proper skin care.

4.Very Old: Experts opine that there is a habit of people retaining the sunscreen lotions of previous summer. If the expiry date is effective then it is safe to use the sunscreen lotion. Even if you use the prescribed quantity of sunscreen, it will be ineffective and you will continue to be under the risks of sunburn and UV rays. On an average an adult would go through a bottle after four uses.

Keeping these viewpoints of experts in mind, maintain a regular routine for the application of sunscreen which has a spf of about 30. Ensure that you reapply the sunscreen, even over the earlier application every two hours for good spf skin care.

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Researching the ingredients used in skin care products and the purposes of various products, like those that can protect against the sun, is a way to ensure that the skin remains youthful through age.

UVA and UVB ray exposure can cause premature aging throughout the skin, especially through the face and choosing products that contain sun protection factor (SPF) is essential in the maintenance of healthy skin.
Through the researching and comparison of various products it is important to consider the myths surrounding SPF skin care. Some of the common myths surrounding SPF skin care include:

Myth: Sunscreen and Facial Moisturizers Containing Sunscreen are Equal.

There are vast differences between regular sunscreen and products containing sunscreen that are meant for the delicate skin of the face. Sunscreen contains ingredients that can cause the pores to become clogged with oil, reducing moisture production in the skin and leading to breakouts.

Facial products like moisturizers that contain SPF should be applied to the delicate skin of the face as they contain concentrated ingredients without the oils that can be detrimental to the health of the skin on the face and regular sunscreen products should not be applied to the face.

Myth: You don’t need SPF Skin Care through the Winter Months.

SPF skin care through the winter months, or even through overcast days where the sun is not shining at its brightest is essential, as it can provide protection from the skin from the reflection of UVA and UVB rays but also from the rays that the skin is exposed to through the clouds.

Using a skin care moisturizer that contains SPF through the components can ensure that this protection is maintained, through the entire year, regardless of the season and can be easily integrated into the skin care routine.

Myth: The Number of SPF chosen doesn’t Matter.

A higher sun protection factor provides a higher barrier between the UVA and UVB rays and the skin, for a longer period of time. A high SPF factor is recommended for the face as it can reduce exposure to the components that can contribute to premature aging and damage through the surface layers of the skin.

Skin care education is essential to ensure that the skin is protected against harmful UVA and UVB rays that can contribute to damaged, dry and aging skin. Learning to differentiate between the facts and myths about skin care can help the consumer to make the choices to better protect the skin.

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