The big thing of the 21st century is the importance of light protection. Over the last 20 years, more and more people have been concerned about the damage caused by the sun's rays. Fortunately for us, there is hardly a company in the cosmetics market that does not produce products with sun protection, be it foundations, traditional sunscreens and sunscreens, or even powders with sunscreen.
Most of the time, we get sunscreens out of our toiletry bags when the temperature rises above 20 degrees and the sun is caressing our faces until early evening. But as pleasant as the sun can be, it can also be damaging to our skin.
What do we protect our skin from?
10% of the radiation from the sun that warms our planet is in the UV - ultraviolet range, which can help or harm our bodies, but especially our faces, which are always uncovered. There are three types of UV radiation: UVA, UVB and UVC. Fortunately, the latter, despite its killer effect, does not filter through to the Earth.
The most damaging effect on the Earth is UVA, which in fact accounts for most of that 10%. It is responsible for premature ageing of the skin, damaging collagen fibres, which is the cause of the dreaded wrinkles. It depletes our body's vitamin A content and destroys our own DNA structure, which in many cases can cause skin cancer. Mostly it causes sunburn, only a light tan. This radiation passes unhindered through windows and clouds, through polluted air.
UVB rays are less damaging, protecting our ozone layer. This causes tanning of our skin, which is essentially a defence mechanism. The cells that produce the brown pigment proliferate in our skin, protecting it from sunburn. It stimulates bone formation and blood formation by producing vitamin D. Because of UVB, small amounts of sun exposure are recommended for skin conditions such as acne, psoriasis and eczema. It is known to be beneficial for young children and early morning and late afternoon sun exposure is recommended.
When should we start using sunscreen?
To answer the question strictly, it is important to start every day of the year, as harmful UVA rays bask us all year round. The sunbathing season starts at the beginning of summer, so this also means the arrival of higher factor sunscreen products. The highest levels of sun exposure really start at this time of year, when it is recommended to use creams and milks with a minimum factor of 30 (SPF30 on products). However, in spring we get just one and a half times less sun exposure, while in winter we get three times less. This means that we can already start to show the first signs of sun damage in spring.
That's why it's recommended to replace your traditional face cream with a product containing a higher sunscreen already in spring!
Today, most face creams offer at least factor 15 protection. But this is not enough protection for our worsening climate. Global warming, greenhouse gases in the air are leaving more and more holes in our ozone layer, which lets UVA rays through, causing more damage to our skin - and not just in summer!
Protect your skin against the sun's rays with Caola's range of easy-to-find Caola sunscreen, on the shelves of our partners from spring!
