January 20th, 2010
My thing is head to toe beauty, from the inside out.
A beautiful woman (and of course, we are all beautiful women) is soooo many things, exterior and interior, tangible and intangible, heart and soul … I’m not even going there. But speaking strictly physically, a beautiful face is be made up of any combination of gorgeous features, and without a doubt, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To me, and this is just me, the most beautiful faces are the ones with smooth, clear, glowing skin. I’m even down with age appropriate wrinkling! Gorgeous skin communicates health, and health is a beautiful thing!
I want my skin to be as beautiful and healthy as I can possibly manage for the rest of my life. Lots of things contribute to good skin … genes, lifestyle, sleep, diet, exercise, stress, etc. … but, the big one, I’m convinced, is sun exposure. Protecting your skin from the sun needs to be a priority if you want beautiful skin. Plus, skin cancer is no joke, and sun exposure is the major cause of skin cancer. Research shows that UV exposure of any kind accounts for 80% of the skin’s aging process! (Wrinkles, dark spots, and dryness, flaking, you know the list.)
Here is the quick version of how sun damage works. Short UVB radiation waves hit the epidermis (the upper portion of the skin) and cause the skin to tan and burn, which are both actually skin damage. The longer UVA rays penetrate further into the dermis (the mid-layer), causing not only a tan but also prematurely ages the skin by dissolving collagen and elastin (protein-based connective tissue that form the skin’s infrastructure and give it strength and resilience). UVB rays are much stronger than UVA radiation, however, UVA radiation is the larger danger for skin because the earth receives about 100 times as much UVA as UVB radiation.
Keeping the skin youthful and beautiful is impossible w/ out protecting it from sun exposure. Period. Besides moving into a cave and never leaving it, the only way to protect your skin from increased risk of cancer and premature aging is with sunscreens and blocks that offer protection from both UVA and UVB rays. Select a product w/ an appropriate SPF for your skin and one that lists ingredients that shield both UVA and UVB rays, indicating broad screen protection, and USE IT!
The sun protection factor, SPF, measures a product’s ability to protect the skin from UVB rays only. It quantifies the amount of time you can be in the sun wearing sunscreen before you are burned. This obviously depends on you. If you burn w/ in 10 minutes of being in the sun, then wearing an SPF of 15 will protect you for 15 times as long, or 150 minutes. SPF 30 is not exactly double the protection of SPF 15, but it’s close. Spf 2 blocks about 50% of UVB rays; spf 10 filters out about 85% of UVB rays; spf 15 stops about 95%; and spf 30 stops about 97%. An SPF that’s higher than 30 does not provide any more UV protection, it just offers more time that you can stay in the sun without burning. Choosing to wear a higher SPF product means that you still need to reapply after swimming or sweating to ensure continued protection.
In addition, a moisturizer w/ SPF 15 and a foundation make up with SPF 15 don’t add up to SPF 30. You still have just SPF 15; you’ve simply used more of it, which is a good thing. Also, the concentrations of sunscreen ingredients needed to reach the very high SPF (55+) available these days can be potentially irritating (more on this later) to your skin. There aren’t enough daylight hours to ever need one shot of so much sunscreen. It’s better to find a concentration that works for you and be diligent about reapplication.
Remember that SPF only refers to protection from UVB radiation. You’ll need to look for products that specifically list protection from UVA rays too.
A few more things to know about the sun and its affects on your skin …
* UVB radiation is the sun’s burning ray and has an immediate, harmful impact on skin. Damage from UVB rays takes place within the very first minute (yes, 60 seconds) of walking outside.
* Even on a cloudy or hazy day, the sun’s rays are present and impacting the skin.
* Regular clothing has an SPF of about 10.
* Surfaces such as water, sand, snow, cement, and grass reflect the rays from the ground to your skin giving you a double dose of exposure.
* UVB rays increase as the ozone layer is depleted, meaning more serious burns for unprotected skin.
* There is no risk of sunburn when you sit in a car or next to a window, because UVB rays can’t pass through glass, however UVA rays can.
* It’s best to apply sunscreen at least 15 to 20 minutes before sun exposure. This gives the sunscreen time to absorb and to spread over and into the uppermost layers of skin.
Come back next week because I’ll be tackling the pros and cons of sunscreen formulas and ingredients – sadly it’s complicated, and the when and how much of which product to use – not as complicated but a large enough discussion to get it’s own post. Plus, I’ll share my opinions and favorite products.
Resources
Simple Skin Beauty, Ellen Marmur, MD
The Original Beauty Bible, Paula Begoun
Mind-Beauty Connection, Amy Wechsler, MD
You Being Beautiful, Michael F Roizen, MD and Mehmet C Oz, MD
Tags: Beauty, Health, skin care, sunscreen
Honestly, Seanna…
This message really needs to go out to the sistahs who forget this. I have never been a sunscreen girl and now in my ripe old age I am paying for it. I have brown spots that bother me. I do not have wrinkles as of yet but the spots are enough for me. I do not avoid the sun now because the benefits of sun exposure are many, but I am much more attentive as to how I spend my time in the sun. I do wear a sunscreen and hats and such and I hope that I can at least slow down the signs of aging. All those years on a track have caught up to me and not one of my coaches ever said anything about sunscreen. Thanks for getting the message out there.:o)
I know you hate the spots, girl, me too (mine of course). Thank goodness for makeup!
Yeah, back in the day, sun protection and why it’s important wasn’t on our collective mind, so it’s not like the coaches were keeping secrets. I had heard of it, sure, but at 18 didn’t care. Until on the way to the neighborhood, my new step-grandmother, who lived in Hawaii her whole life and was visiting, showed me these ice cream scoop sized scars on her arms and shoulders, as well as smaller divets on her nose and forehead, where melanoma had been removed (not to mention she was mottled and spotted to high heaven). She was disfigured and, honestly, it creeped me out. I started using Oil of Olay w/ spf 15, that’s all there was!, the very next day, not really knowing anything, but hoping that it was doing something.
These days we are really bombarded w/ a lot of information but it’s confusing and sometimes even conflicting. And since we should get outside as much as we can to train and enjoy the many benefits and warmth of the sun, we need to get it sorted out.
I have both spots and wrinkles! LOL! Too many years smiling and sun worshiping, I suppose.
And you said it…thank goodness for makeup!
Joanna, my fellow mascara addict!
And weren’t all of us of a certain age range sun worshipers? Even as a kid? If I knew then what I know now …
I also want to say that changes happen to our bodies as we age, good and bad, and whether we nudged the changes on or not. This is no way makes us not every bit as beautiful as we were in our youth. My view is that it’s good and ok to wish to age on the outside as gracefully and well as we are aging on the inside.
You know, it is blog posts like these that make me so glad I’m pale! lol. There was a year, in HS, when I so desperately wanted to be tan and I frequented the tanning salon. I’m glad it was only for that 1 year!!!!!!!
Hey Seanna,
Great to hear from you!!! Remember we just met in Miami in 2008…
Just wanted to say hi.
Love your blog, i’m a sunny girl leaving in a sunny island so definitely need a good SPF
Hi Sabine! Great to have you mama! Of course I remember you! Indeed, Florida girl, protect your skin!
Amy, so glad it was only for that one year too! You are skin is too gorgeous for words. It’s like chiseled from alabaster. Really. So young, so beautiful. OMG, my Katie, 21, knows everything, yet STILL goes occasionally to the tanning beds! Those things should be illegal. Grrrr!
Yes, thank goodness for make-up. For me, Bare Minerals hides a multitude of skin sins. Hopefully my girls will start with the SPF much, much, MUCH earlier then I did!