Tuesday, 27 January 2015

Sun Sense

Sun damage is by far the most significant cause of wrinkling, skin aging, and skin cancers. You may not see the damage when you are in your teens or your twenties, but it would show in your forties as the damage is cumulative that occurs beneath the skin's surface and doesn't show itself until after many years of exposure. To only rescue your skin when it is too late by using the various cosmetic products might not help much as which of those marketed anti-wrinkle creams really showed any results? Using sunscreen and avoiding prolonged, direct sun exposure from young is the only way to reduce that inevitable fate for your skin.

Sunscreens for oily skin
Regardless of the claim on the label, there are always risks that the base formulation can clog pores or feel slippery or greasy on the skin. There's also the problem that the sunscreen ingredients themselves can cause an irritated breakout reaction, a response to the synthetically derived sunscreen agents. 

Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are inert minerals used as sunscreen ingredients. They have minimal to no risk of causing an allergic reaction, and are considered by most researchers to be benign and safe for skin. That said, they could still clog pores, being the thick and occlusive ingredients that they are. Given the wide variety in formulations, there is no way to quantify which ingredients are more problematic than others for causing problems. You could only experiment with them. 

For oily skin, wearing a foundation with a high SPF is an excellent idea, particularly for women with oily skin who don't want to wear layers of skincare products. The one negative about using a foundation with sunscreen is that you need to apply it generously; thin, sheer applications don't work.

If you wear a foundation with a good SPF you might forget to use a sunscreen on your hands, neck, throat, chest, or any other area of your body that is exposed to the sun on a daily basis. If so, those brown "age spots" might appear around those areas later part of your life.

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