Sunlight,UV Light, Oh My

It’s time for another blog talking about sunscreen/light because light can be one of the most damaging factors to your skin and even though summer is almost half way over, it doesn’t mean that the damaging light is going to go away. So how is this light damaging our skin and what type of sunscreen should I use to protect me skin.

Let me start with this: Skin health is so much more important than beauty. Our skin is our most important immuno-protecting organ. The skin protects you from everything you are exposed to in your environment so it is important to have a strong skin barrier.

And even if you're not in the sun, I know most of us are working behind computers, phones and tablets for hours so we are being exposed to blue light. Blue light has a wavelength of 450-495nm allowing these light rays to hit the top layer of skin (epidermis) and be absorbed by pigment in our skin (melanocytes), but the rays that are not caught by melanocytes penetrate further into the skin and create damage to DNA and the structure to your skin, damaging your skin barrier causing effects like premature aging and hyperpigmentation.

The sun has 3 types of UV rays. UVA, UVB, UVC. UVA has a wavelength 315-400nm which acts similar to the blue light effects. UVB is the one that most people are concerned about because this is the one that creates burns on the skin and most known to cause cancer. UVB has a wavelength of 280-315nm so it does not penetrate past the epidermis. UVC is primarily absorbed by the earth's ozone layer, but scientists have been finding signs of it penetrating (Global warming).

So your sunscreen is going to help protect you from these rays by either chemically absorbing the rays and essentially getting rid of it or by a physical process which bounces the rays back. But it is important to look for sunscreens that say BROAD SPECTRUM. I know I have mentioned this in my blogs before but I can’t stress it enough. Not all sunscreens are created equally and maybe only protect you from uvb or uva rays. If you are wearing a broad spectrum sunscreen and are reapplying as directed, you will protect your skin from Blue light, UVA, UVB, and UVC lights.

Sunscreen isn’t the only thing that is going to help you of course so it is important to have antioxidants and highly moisturizing ingredients to maintain the skin barrier. Our Reformation Serum AND Rescue Lip Treatment is packed with Vitamin E and moisturizing ingredients to keep your skin and lips fully hydrated and works great with sunscreen to help protect you from all the light rays coming for your skin!

Protecting your skin barrier is so important because it is much easier to prevent damage rather than reversing the effects of damage, like cancer! Wear your sunscreen everyone and enjoy the sun... or the light of your computer!!