Tuesday 2 July 2013

SPF Update

Now that the sun looks like it (may) be here to stay, it's time to be all the more vigilant with applying SPF's. Sunday was apparently the hottest day of the year so far, lets hope it hasn't peaked too early and there will be plenty more of them!

Sun is the biggest cause of photo-ageing in the skin. SPF is such an important step in your daily regime and should feature everyday no matter the weather. UVA, the rays that cause ageing, penetrate through clouds, windows and even light clothing so the importance of using a broad spectrum sunscreen is so important. Your SPF needs to come from an independent product, not just what is found in your day cream or foundation. Often the sun protection factor is just thrown in as an "added benefit" and is more often than not only protecting against UVB. This will not protect against photo-ageing and therefore cannot be relied upon to fully protect your skin. Fortunately the EU are onto this and from now on you will find the symbol below, on all SPF products that are proven to provide at least a third of it's protection against UVA.



If you have sensitive or acneic skins and find SPF to be irritating I recommend trying a physical protection rather than a chemical. Skin Ceuticals do a fabulous one; Sheer Mineral UV Defence SPF 50 will give you full protection whilst not irritating the skin.

Skin Ceuticals in general do great sunscreens, some of my other favourites include Clinique City Block, La Roche Posay Anthelios range, Vichy Laboratories Capital Soleil SPF 50, UltraCeuticals Protective Daily Moisturiser SPF 30. If it has the UVA logo, use it.

Also take into consideration that SPF's do have an expiry date of 1 year. You should get through a bottle in that time, if not please replace it.

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