Welcome to Part 2 in our 3-part series on sunscreen and your face! You can see Part 1 here on why it's so important to wear sunscreen on your face every single day. The stakes are high, as you'll discover! Now, it's time to dive into the details on when, where, and how to use that sunscreen you have committed to wearing every day (because you have, haven't you?)...
Proper sunscreen use is not simply about whether you wear it or not. How you wear sunscreen – and which sunscreen you choose – is vital for reaping the benefits of regular use. Here are tips on how to wear sunscreen effectively:
- Reapply throughout the day: you will need to reapply your sunscreen during the day for it to remain effective. How frequently depends on the type of wear – whether you are indoors or outdoors, sweating, etc. Outdoor activities and getting wet (either in the water or sweating) increase the frequency for reapplication.
- Wear it regardless of skin tone: all skin needs sun protection, no matter how deep the skin tone. Think of sunscreen as protecting you against radiation.
- Wear in clouds, smoke, haze, and during winter: radiation rays from the sun can penetrate through these conditions, so it is important to wear sunscreen in all conditions.
- Use it even if you will only be indoors all day: It turns out that wearing sunscreen is important even indoors! Evidence shows that even blue light from digital screens can also cause skin damage. It increases the production of melanin as well as creates free radicals, which can lead to inflammation and damage collagen. And your skin depends on healthy collagen for its elasticity. Even sunlight coming through windows – cloudy days included – still contains UVA rays that can cause damage, as windows typically only block UVB rays
- Cover all areas on face (including eyelids!): It is important to thoroughly apply sunscreen to your entire face, neck, and chest. This also includes your eyelids (how many of us skip those?!), as a study published in April 2019 in the journal PLoS One found that about 20% of participants did not put sunscreen on their eyelids – which is problematic since eyelid skin has the highest incidence of skin cancer per unit area.
And how much sunscreen should you use to adequately protect your face, neck, and chest? You can imagine about a dessert spoon amount of sunscreen. It’s also popular to use the length of your pointer and index fingers to measure. Just run a line of sunscreen down the length of each of those two fingers and then apply.
If you want to keep it simple and memorable, just think:
Sunscreen is for everyone, every day, every weather, and everywhere on face, neck, and chest.
Sources:
Our team of esthetics instructors!
Do you need to wear sunscreen inside? Experts weigh in (nbcnews.com)
7 Sunscreen Mistakes That Hurt Your Skin | Everyday Health
Application of SPF moisturisers is inferior to sunscreens in coverage of facial and eyelid regions | PLOS ONE
