The simple answer to this question is: YES!! Sunscreen of at least 30 SPF or more is crucial all year long. This is a big question we get from client’s as it’s an extra step in a skin care routine that some want to skip. The question you might be asking is “There isn’t any sun in the winter why do I need to apply it?”. This is such a valid question, however, even though we cannot see UV rays they still are still there and can affect our skin. There are 3 different types of UV rays: UVA, UVB and UVC. The rays we concern ourselves with most are UVA and UVB as UVC rays do not penetrate through the earth’s ozone layer. UVA is the longest wavelength and can penetrate the skin’s second layer causing skin sun damage and aging. UVB is a shorter wavelength that causes superficial damage to the skin such as burns and is strongly linked to cancer. In the winter we do not typically get burned and the reasoning is because UVB rays typically do not penetrate through the overcast and clouds. However, UVA rays do penetrate through the clouds and penetrate our skin causing damage without creating a burn that we usually experience from UVB rays. To the naked eye it may not seem like the sun is affecting our skin during the winter months because of the cold weather and lack of sun burns, however, when leaving the skin unprotected with a broad spectrum sunscreen many people will experience sun damage and accelerated skin aging.
What type of sunscreen do we recommend?
We always recommend a mineral sunscreen of at least 30 SPF or more. A question we hear often when asking client’s if they use SPF is “There is SPF incorporated into my moisturizer/foundation, is that okay?”
Typically our answer is no, the reason being that because it is included into another product it actually be less than 30 SPF as it may become diluted during the manufacturing process.
We always recommend to have a separate product that is just intended to be a sunscreen as you will get the most protection this way!
