Oh No!! My face is getting darker..!! Can sunblock help me??

I heard a conversation between two girls today:

Girl A: My face is getting darker due to outdoor activities…

Girl B: Do u apply any sunblock to protect your skin?

Girl A: Hmmm… I lazy…

Girl B: OMG…!! How can you lazy for this..?!! @@

I believe that most of the girls out there do apply sunblock every day to protect their skin from sunlight, especially in Malaysia, but do they really know how sunblock works?

Sunblock is the general term we use but there are differences between sunblock and sunscreen. Do you know that?

Sunblock and sunscreen different in the aspect of type of chemicals used and how the chemicals work. Sunblock contains minute particles of reflective material that works like a mirrored shield to reflect or scatters the sun’s ray away. The reflective particles in sunblock usually include zinc oxide and titanium oxide. On the other hand, sunscreen is a combination of organic and inorganic chemicals to filter and soak the light from the sun so that the amount of light that reaches the deeper layers of the skin is reduce. Thus, sunscreen works in a way like sponge. The ingredients that are most often found in sunscreens include PABA (para-aminobenzoic aicd), benzophenones, cinnamates and anthranilates.

We often see different SPF values on sunblock or sunscreen products and also stated protection from UV-A and UV-B. Do you really know what all these about? The truth is, I also don’t know till I do some reading on it. 

Ultraviolet radiation is the portion of sunlight that is filtered or block when we apply sun protection products. There are three regions of ultraviolet light known as UV-A, UV-B and UV-C. The descriptions of these regions are as below:

•  UV-A penetrates deeply into the skin and can lead to cancer and premature skin aging, wrinkles and dryness.
•  UV-B is involved in tanning and burning of your skin and cause redness.
•  UV-C is completely absorbed by the earth’s atmosphere. (We will not see any sun protection products stated protected from UV-C, if exists, it’s a LIE!!)

Next, we will look into the meaning of SPF. SPF stands for Sun Protection Factor and the value of SPF help u to determine how long you can stay in the sun before getting sunburn. In the other words, we can say that SPF is a measurement of UV-B radiation protection only and the value ranges from 1-90. Hence, SPF does not indicate protection from UV-A, which the main causes of cancer and premature aging of the skin. The SPF value tells you how long u can stay in the sun before getting burned by multiplying the SPF factor by the length of time it take for you to suffer a burn without sunscreen or sunblock. For example: if you develop a sunburn in 10 minutes without applying any sun protection products, a sunscreen with SPF of 15 will protect you for 150 minutes. This can help u to choose a sun protection product with SPF value that suits you well.

 

How does the sunscreen work to protect our skin from harmful sunlight? It is with the help of active ingredients found in sunblock and sunscreen! These chemical filters penetrate the skin and absorb the sun’s ray so they do not reach down into the lower layers of skin and cause damage. For example, PABA, which is an ingredient in sunscreen help to absorb UV-B while benzophenones absorb UV-A. Below is a table showing the common active ingredients of sun protection products and the type of UV light block:

Active Ingredient	Type of UV radiation blocked
Aminobenzoic acid	UV-B
Avobenzone	UV-A
Cinoxate	UV-B
Dioxybenzone	UV-B, UV-A
Homosalate	UV-B
Menthyl anthranilate	UV-A
Octorylene	UV-B
Octyl methoxycinnamate	UV-B
Octisalate	UV-B
Oxybenzone	UV-B, UV-A
Padimate O	UV-B
Phenylbenzimidazole sulfonic acid	UV-B
Sulisobenzone	UV-B, UV-A
Titanium dioxide	UV-A/B, broad spectrum
Trolamine salicylate	UV-B
Zinc oxide	UV-A/B, broad spectrum

We all know that getting a little sunshine is important to our bodies as it helps to generate vitamin D, an important supplement for string bones but too much sun can cause health issues such as sunburns and skin cancer. Why getting too much sun is bad? This is due to the ultraviolet radiation which comes in the form of UV-A that are not absorbed by the ozone layer and penetrate deep into our skin. 90% of ultraviolet radiation contributed by UV-A while the rest make up by UV-B. Unlike UV-A, UV-B do not penetrate our skin as deeply as UV-A, and due to this reason, UV-B can cause those lobster-red sunburns. Both types of UV rays are thought to cause skin cancer. 

Many people will ask: Will sunscreen contain harmful chemicals? Yes. Chemicals such as benzophenone, homosalate and octyl methoxycinnamate are known to mimic naturally occurring hormones and can throw the body’s system out of whack. I know when I answered this question, many people will respond: WHAT!!! Then you still encourage us to apply sunscreen? Of course I encourage because SAFER SUNSCREEN are NOW AVAILABLE!!!! Presently, many companies are introducing safer sunscreen crafted from plant and mineral based ingredients and without chemical additives. So, what are you waiting? Do a research on sunscreen that suit you and go GRAB it now!!!