Sunscreen has been around for a long time. As a kid I remember my mom putting it on us, but honestly I have always had a darker complexion so as I got older, I really didn’t worry about it. As a kid I thought sunscreen was to keep you from burning in the sun. Since I didn’t burn I figured I didn’t really need it. As I got older the trend was to use baby oil to get the darkest tan you could. Well all that is now out the window. Now we know that sunscreen is protecting us from skin cancer, which, although not talked about as much as other cancers, can be deadly.
We know that sunscreen is key, but the confusion comes in when talking about spf. We’ve heard before that super high spf’s are pointless, and that there really isn’t much difference between 50 and 100……..but according to a recent study that’s not actually true.
Researchers tested different levels of spf on skiers in Colorado. They put 50 on one side of each person’s face and 100 on the other. What they found is the side with 50 was 11 times more likely to end up with sun damage. Why? First of all, the extra spf does protect your skin a bit better, but the bigger reason is because most of us don’t apply as much sunscreen as we should, and we don’t re-apply it enough, so the extra spf gives a little more leeway.
So in general, an SPF of 30 is good enough, but only if you’re putting it on thick and you’re re-applying every two hours!
