How to make sense of sun care

This is one that confuses the hell out of everyone. So I think we most definitely need a guide to sunscreens and the lingo they employ.

• Chemical sunscreen
  Absorb UV radiation. Chemical sunscreens can be UVA or UVB absorbers.
• Physical sunscreen
  Physically block the suns rays - both UVA and UVB radiation. Common physical blockers:
  titanium dioxide; zinc oxide.
• UVA & UVB
  Ultraviolet radiation from the sun (or sunbeds).
  UVA (ageing and cancer risk).
  UVB (burning, ageing and cancer risk).
  Basically you need to avoid them both.

• SPF & Stars
  We all know that this stands for Sun Protection Factor. But did you know that it applies ONLY to UVB rays. So you need to make sure the sunscreen protects against UVA too. The SPF number refer to the product's ability to block out the sun's burning rays and are calculated by measuring the burn rate on unprotected skin. The higher the SPF, the greater the sun protection.

• The Star rating indicates the amount of protection against UVA rays. Not all companies use this system though.

• Broad Spectrum
  Many sunscreens have a combination of ingredients and may contain both physical and chemical sunscreens. But just because a product is broad spectrum doesn't mean it will effectively block UVA - so make sure it states it does.
• The one to buy
  Most good suncreams will contain a mixture of physical and chemical suncreams - get good at reading the ingredients and go for ones that incorporate zinc oxide or titanium dioxide.
• You need to get a broad spectrum (UVA & UVB) sunscreen with a SPF of at least 15.

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