What’s the deal with this ‘SPF for my face’ craze?!
Question: Why do I need to have SPF for my face, like, all the time now? The obvious answer is ewwww, skin cancer, right? But what you probably don’t know is that THE! SUN! ALSO! AGES! YOU!
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, a skin specialist, nothing. I am a normal person like you who did some research and listened to a podcast on sun and skin.
Today’s Blogpost = A Learning Session with Dinah
Are you a podcast person? Silly question because we all are these days. Back in the day, I was listening to the Stuff You Should Know podcast and ran across an episode called Sunburns, Suntans and Sunscreens. What we already know is that the sun can cause skin cancer, right? Old news. But this episode shines a light on another issue the sun causes – AGING.
When you sit out in the sun sans SPF, your body is absorbing the sun’s ultra violet radiation, or UVA and UVB. Think of UVA as UVAging and UVB as UVBurn. The UVB rays are responsible for the burn you get, so, ouch. What most of you won’t know however, is that the UVA rays are actually much worse for your skin health. UVA penetrates deeper into your dermis, then your melanin absorbs the UVA radiation, and once in your body, it starts destroying collagen fibers. Uh oh, oopsie!
According to skincancer.org, “this damage causes increased production of abnormal elastin. The unusual amounts of elastin result in the production of enzymes called metalloproteinases. These enzymes, which rebuild damaged collagen, often malfunction and degrade the collagen, resulting in incorrectly rebuilt skin. As this process is repeated with daily UVA exposure, the incorrectly rebuilt skin forms wrinkles, and the depleted collagen results in leathery skin.”
Here’s My Point
What I’m trying to say here is that anytime you go out in direct sunlight without SPF on your face, you are literally making yourself look older. Ah!! SO WILD. It obviously doesn’t happen overnight, but it does add up over time.
Now, I’m not trying to turn you into some recluse who only hangs out indoors. Live you life, enjoy being outside!! It’s so good for your physical and mental health! I would personally prefer to sit on the beach every single day for the rest of my life. Just, as part of your skincare routine, add in an SPF and you’re good to go! I have a whole bunch listed below that you can try out. Getcha some SPF and stay young forever!
A couple quick notes I wanted to address after listening to the podcast again recently:
1. Base Tan Theory: If you’ve already got a tan this summer and you think because of that tan, you are now safe from sun damage. NOPE. NOPE. NOPE. ABSOLUTELY NOPE. A tan only represents the damage you’ve already done to your skin. Don’t add more collagen loss!
2. Tanning Beds: These machines only emit UVA rays, not UVB. So they are actually L.I.T.E.R.A.L. advanced hyper aging machines! Isn’t that the craziest thing you’ve heard all day?!
Here’s What I Recommend
SPF for my face: Just SPF
SPF in moisturizer:
SPF in Lip Balm:
SPF, but extra fun:
SPF for my Body:
Go listen to the podcast and learn some things. They discuss SPF levels, why we get red when we get too much sun, etc etc – it’s full of so much eye opening information!
Let’s go get you carded, girl!!
Have a super super rest of the day!!
<3 Dinah