Come summer and you will see the heavy advertising of sunscreen brands luring their innocent viewer like anything. While protecting your skin from the strong sunrays during the scorching summer is the main agenda for any beauty conscious women, brands too don’t miss a chance to woo them stressing on the maximum SPF. What is this gamut all about? Is it all about the skin protection by using a good sunscreen or is it all about having a product with a maximum SPF?

Summer is a big challenge for all those who wish to flaunt their lovely skin but fear the aftermaths of it. We all know that sunlight can damage our skin in terms of darkening, sunburns, premature aging and many a times leading to the risk of skin cancer. While a bare skin breathes like nothing but considering the pollution we are surrounded with it is always recommended to go for any basic skin protection. No denying, sunscreens are the best solutions during the summer time but applying it without understanding your own need is surely not recommended.

When Indoor

Now that’s a common query that keeps popping among all kind of girl gang. Wait! Don’t think that since you are sitting in your office all day long don’t need any skin protection. “One should always apply sunscreen or sunblock before you leave your home. It at least saves you from the basic damage caused by UVB rays. And, if you are an outdoor person or in such profession, I will always recommend going for a sunblock that has strong SPF. It can help in 3-4 hour protection along with blocking UV rays to some extent. Always remember, there is no sunscreen in the world that can offer hundred percent protection, but leaving your skin bare is also not a very good idea,” advices Dr. Sangeeta Almadi, Head Medical, Kaya Skin Clinic.

Common Myth

If you have always assumed that once you have applied sunscreen, your skin is hydrated too. Hold your thoughts there itself as it’s a common myth. Sunscreen has nothing to do with keeping skin moisturized. Brands might claim that they have moisturizing property but if you a dry skin type you can do your own tried and tested. After a few hours post sunscreen application, you will feel the dryness and itchy texture. That’s one of the reasons sunscreen application recommended only after you have applied your moisturizer!

 Whats SPF

To put it straight, it is called as sun protection factor. To understand it in a simple way it is basically a rate chart that majors how much sun protection is offered by a particular product. The more of SPF number, the more of time duration it will keep your skin protected from the harsh UV rays. The numbers can vary right from 2 to 90. For outdoors the higher number of SPF like 40 to 60 is required. It will last for a longer duration.

While swimming also don’t forget your skin protection as bare skin will result in bad tans which are hard to get rid of later.

 UVA rays can damage your skin for a longer period as compared to UVB rays which can be blocked by using sunscreen. That’s how a sunscreen differs from a sunblock. While sunscreen works in a milder way, sunblock keeps UV rays at bay!

 If you are oily skin type, go for sunscreens with matt effect as any oil based product will worsen your breakout problem.