Get Your Skin Summer Ready with SPF and Being Vitamin D Informed!

One of the most talked about skin care is sun protection. This is a big deal! Estheticians can’t express this enough, but sadly there are people who care much too late in life before the negative effects kick in!

I’ve seen way too much! So I’m here to tell you that if there’s absolutely one thing you MUST do to take care of your skin, it’s to protect it!

There are 3 important Summer skin care tips you must take into consideration:

1. When “good sun” is available throughout the day
2. What type of sun screen works best
3. How much SPF is best

Sunshine Doesn’t Always Mean Vitamin D!

Many people have the misconception that you can always get Vitamin D from the sun. Perhaps someone’s told you that laying out in the sun from 9 in the morning until noon is good for you, because you’re getting some natural forms of Vitamin D into your skin.

Let me tell you a little secret — Vitamin D comes at different times of the day and not just when you see the most sunshine!

There are 2 types of ultraviolet radiations that penetrate the ozone layer. UVA, which is known as the cancer causing UV and UVB, which is the burning UV, meaning, it’s what gives you sunburns.

The sun’s angle from the horizon makes a big difference in the level of UV that penetrates the ozone and onto our skin. The angle must be at least at 50 degrees and above if you want to make sure you get that natural dose of Vitamin D!

Steps to Checking the Time for Vitamin D Enriched Sunshine

1. Go to the Azimuth Table provided by the U.S. Naval Observatory
2. Fill in Form A or Form B based on your exact location
3. Be sure to have the Sun option checked
4. Enter the date you plan on going out for a sun bath
5. Be sure you fill in all requirements
6. Press the “Compute Table” button
7. The result will give you 3 columns of numbers. Find the middle column, which should be the Altitude column. Locate the numbers from 50 and above (see the image on the right as an example for Costa Mesa, CA). Notice that above 50 starts at 10:10. Then it goes up and starts its way down again below 50 Altitude at 15:30, which is also known as 3:30 PM.

From this example, we found that Vitamin D will be readily available from 10:10 in the morning until at least 3:30 in the afternoon.

What’s the Best Sunscreen?

Most sunscreens used to just protect you against sun burns, which means it just protected you from UVB. What you really need is protection from both UVB and UVA.

UVA is the more harmful ultraviolet radiation. It can promote wrinkles, sun spots, even skin cancer. Knowing this, wouldn’t you want to make sure you’re getting a heavy dose of whatever it is that could keep you from these harmful effects?

Make sure you buy the broadband sun protection. Broadband protects you from both UVA and UVB.

How Much SPF is Best

SPF stands for Sun Protection Factor. SPF usually ranges from 15 to 50. 15 typically protects at least 93% of UVB and 50 can protect at least 98% of UVB.

Another way to look at the SPF numbers is also to project how sensitive your skin is to the skin. If you were to go out without sun protection, how many minutes under the sun do you think it would take before you start to feel a little flushed or perhaps burned? 7 minutes? 10 minutes?

Once you’ve gotten a good estimate of the minutes you naturally burn, you can then multiply the SPF number by those minutes. That’s how long it would take before the UV actually penetrates your skin and you start feeling the effects of it.

AN ADDED TIP: Most skin care specialists, including myself, will recommend reapplying sunscreen on every 3 to 4 hours. Your skin’s natural oils and especially when you’re in the water, can keep the SPF from staying on your skin and ultimately doing its job. So to be safe, you always want to make sure you have a good amount on your skin!