SPF: What it is and Why You Need it This Summer

Now that the summer is almost here, people are getting anxious for their frequent beach visits, tanning and the nice weather. One thing that no one should ever leave home without is sunscreen. I'm sure when purchasing or applying sunscreen you may have noticed the variety of SPF's that are offered, but which do you choose? A question the you may have asked your self is: What does SPF mean? Here is some helpful information to use when making your next sunscreen purchase.

To start of with SPF stands for the sun protection factor. This is a laboratory measurement of the effectiveness of the sunscreen, it is also imperfect. Sunscreen is used to protect the skin from the sun's ultraviolet radiation (UV), which includes UVB and UVA radiation. UVB has wavelengths between 290 and 320 nanometers and is the cause of sunburns. Almost all sunscreens have protection against UVB rays. UVA on the other hand has wavelengths between 320 and 400 nanometers and causes the more serious, long-term effects. There are no products yet that block all UVA rays, but the best protection can be found in products that contain memory, zinc oxide and avobenzone. It is said that a sunscreen with SPF 15 may absorb more than 92 percent of the UVB radiation. Higher SPF's such as SPF 30 may absorb 96.7 percent and SPF 40 may absorb as much as 97.6 percent of UVB radiation. With this much protection from these harmful rays, there is no reason to go without it.

When deciding which SPF is right for you there are some factors to keep in mind. These include your skin type, the activities you are participating in, such as swimming, how much is applied and also how often it is applied. To figure out which SPF to get you can take an estimated time in the sun it takes you to burn without sunscreen, then times that by the SPF on the label and you get the number of minutes you can be in the sun with that SPF without burning. For example if you would burn in ten minutes and then apply an SPF 15 sunscreen it provides you with about one-hundred and fifty minutes in the sun before you begin to burn. You also need to consider activities such as swimming, which causes the skin to loss sunscreen. Apply and re-applying enough sunscreen is the key. You may not achieve the full protection of the sunscreen unless a liberal amount is applied and it should be re-applied when or before your estimated SPF time is up and also after swimming, rubbing or sweating. Now the suggested amount of sunscreen you should apply is about an ounce for your entire body. Most people do not use this much. To put it in to perspective, most bottles of sunscreen are eight ounces, if you go to the beach regularly you could use up to a bottle a week.

You may also be wondering who makes the regulations when marketing sunscreens SPF. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have a tight grip on these requirements. Some of these finalized regulations are requiring that all sunscreens have SPF testing, for your safety, and also that the higher the SPF on the label, the higher the protection. The FDA has also added a new SPF category. This is SPF 30+, which implies that the SPF is at least 30 but may work longer depending on personal factors and activities. To avoid confusion or any misleading information, sunscreens can no longer say such things as "sunblock", "all-day protection" or "water proof".

Now with your new found knowledge of SPF you will be able to chose an effective sunscreen. Skin damage may occur from just ten minutes in the sun. By protecting your skin now, you may be saving it in the long run.