The sun never takes a day off, and neither should your SPF. Protect yourself from premature aging year round with professional grade sunscreen.
Why Do I Need to Use Sunscreen When It's Not Summer?
Ultraviolet or UV radiation (like that from the sun or a tanning bed) causes over 90% of your skin's accelerated aging. Not only does that mean more wrinkles, spots, and fine lines, it can ultimately mean skin cancer if you don't protect yourself now. And just because it's cold outside doesn't mean that the sun suddenly stops sending UV radiation down to us. Skin protection is a year round necessity if you want to slow the aging of your skin.
You may have already heard of the two kinds of UV radiation - UVA and UVB. But what's the real difference? UVB radiation is what most sunscreens protect against and it's this radiation that determines the SPF (sun protection factor) on most commercially available sunscreens. UVB rays cause sunburn, no matter your skin color, and are the primary culprit when it comes to DNA damage and skin cancer. UVB rays range in strength throughout the day, being strongest between 11:00am and 3:00pm.
UVA rays differ in that they have never been addressed by the FDA numerically, meaning there is no SPF that applies to UVA, only the term "broad spectrum protection". When it comes to the health of your skin, however, UVA can be just as damaging, if not more. It causes accelerated aging, destroys collagen, depletes our skin, damages fibril tissue, and yes, causes cancer. And unlike it's UVB counterpart, UVA rays are at 100% potency from sunrise to sunset.
So What Makes Professional Grade Sunscreen Better?
Professional or medical grade sunscreen isn't something you're going to find on the shelves of your local drug store, and that's because it delivers medical grade protection. It screens out over 97.5% of all UVB radiation and more than 90% of UVA radiation, and exceeds the FDA's maximum criteria for broad spectrum protection. This is due in large part to the purity of their formulas and quality of the active ingredients used.
Professional grade sunscreen offers a more consistent level of protection for both UVA and UVB than sunscreens that rely on Zinc Oxide, Titanium Dioxide and Parasol 1789. And even at SPF20, professional grade sunscreen provides better protection than drug store brands that boast SPF30 or even SPF60.
Finally, because most professional grade sunscreens are paraben-free, frangrance-free, greaseless, and fortified with moisturizers, it's perfect for application after a cleanse and before make up application. They are also rub-proof and last up to 24 hours with one application which means you won't have to retouch make up or worry about losing protection as the day wears on. Just use them as you would your morning moisturizer and forget they're even there.
How much easier can great skin get? As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and well protected skin rarely needs expensive treatments down the line.