Importance of Sunscreens and how to choose a good one:

Summers gives you tanning, sunburn, photodamage, so on and so forth. But you can prevent and minimise most of it if you have the habit of regularly using the sunscreen and the one which suits your skin type.

Here are few tips on what is a sunscreen and what exactly does it mean.

Which type of sunscreen to choose?

Sunscreen should be used depending on your skin type. Now skin type means whether you have oily, dry, or combination skin.

  • People with oily skin should use a sunscreen in a gel form.This will prevent any further oiliness or acne breakouts.
  • Whereas people with dry skin should be using a sunscreen which will moisturize your skin and not dry it further hence a cream or lotion based sunscreen is ideal in these patients.

Now the other important factor while choosing a sunscreen is to know the SPF, that is the Sun Protection Factor. What exactly is the Sun Protection Factor?

It is nothing but the amount or degree of protection it's offering in the sun against that when you are not wearing one. For example, sunscreen with SPF 40 will give you 40 times protection in the sun.

Sunscreens ideally should be used strictly when you are exposed to sun, but at the same time don't forget to wear it when you are at home because UV-A rays are the rays which are present at home or they even penetrate the window panes at home or cars, so your sun protection should be both indoors and outdoors as there are rays emitted by laptop screens, tubelights and bulbs. It is always best to use a broad spectrum sunlight that is one offering UV-A and UV-B protection both.

How to apply a sunscreen?

Always wear a sunscreen 15-20 mins before you step out of the house. Take a generous amount of sunscreen in your hand and evenly dab it on the exposed areas of the face, spread it out and leave it to get absorbed in the skin.

You need to repeat this exercise every couple of hours if you are out in the sun.