The sun is out and we love it, it changes the way we look at the day, it changes how we feel, especially as we have left winter behind and slowly transition from spring to summer. Let’s face it the sun makes us feel fabulous and uplifts mind, body and soul!
Sunlight helps the body produce Vitamin D, a vitamin that is not found naturally in most foods. But the sun has another side, a more sinister side. As we all know, the immediate danger of too much sun is sunburn.
Skin that is sunburned has had its cells and blood vessels damaged. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is known to produce erythema and pigmentation on the skin. When directly exposed to the sun, there is 10 to 100 times more exposure of UVA than UVB. UVB (considered the Burning Ray) has an immediate, harmful impact on the skin within minutes. UVA (considered the Aging Ray), which you do not feel, has been shown to damage the skin by penetrating deeply into the dermis and capable of producing premature aging, wrinkles, and tumors.
This repeated damage due to the sun causes your skin to become dry, wrinkled, pigmented with those dreaded sunspots or solar lentigines. However the most serious threat is that it is a major cause of skin cancer, the most common form of all cancers.
Summer is not the only time you are at risk from damage to your skin from the sun. The sun is there 365 days a year, sometimes we see it, sometimes we don’t and you need protection much of that time to reduce accumulated sun-exposure. It all adds up!
The Skin Cancer Foundation recommends using a sunscreen of SPF 15 or higher. However I use and would always recommend you use a minimum of SPF 30, whenever you are spending time outdoors particularly if you are going to be outdoors for an extended period of time.
If you can, choose an SPF product separate to your daily moisturisers, these really are the most effective sun protectors.
Sunscreens come in various forms lotion, gel, spray, cream and stick forms. Try to stay away from the products that tend to dry your skin. Lead by example and teach your kids the habit of applying sunscreen, remember sun damage occurs at each unprotected exposure and accumulates over their lifetime.
Sunscreens are inactive ingredients that are able to chemically or physically block UV radiations (UVA and UVB) from penetrating the skins layers. Chemical sunscreens act by absorbing UV-light.
Physical sunscreens reflect or scatter light in both the visible and UV-spectrum. Effectiveness of sunscreens depends upon their UV-absorption, concentration, formulation, and ability to withstand swimming or sweating.
At present GJ does not have an SPF in their moisturising products. This is for a number of reasons.
The No 1 reason being that the expense of applying an anti-aging moisturiser which was formulated to perform as a specific beauty product regularly, as you should do, i.e. every 2 hours would be cost prohibitive.
No 2. Formulating a natural SPF product is a long stringent process to ensure it performs optimally and is stable while being aesthetically pleasing to the skin. As a natural skincare company we do not use artificial stabilisers and fillers that other skincare companies use to enhance the skin-feel but bring nothing else to the party!
No 3. There are huge costs involved in developing an SPF product, not least and rightly so, the extensive testing that these products need to go through to make sure they preform their job safely. But I am working on it but it would be a standalone product formulated specifically for sun protection. Watch this space 🙂
My message is simple and to quote Baz Luhrmann “Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ’99
Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.
The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists”
Wishing you happy skin always!
MicheleXX