Fearless and Flawless: The Importance of SPF

It’s officially summer and it’s already shaping up to be a particularly sweaty one. Which means whenever you have to leave the comfort of your air conditioning, it’s more important than ever to slather up and protect yourself from the oppressive rays of that big yellow jerk, the sun.

But when you’re out shopping for sunscreen, have you ever stopped to consider what SPF actually means? Just like pixel depth when TV shopping or horsepower when car shopping, it can seem as simple as “the more the better,” but the truth is a bit more nuanced.

So rather than lecturing you about the importance of sunscreen like your nagging mother, we’ve put together some quick tidbits about SPF and sunscreen you can use to sound smart at BBQs and beach parties.

• SPF is controlled by The Man

SPF, or Sun Protection Factor, is an FDA-regulated scale of how much solar energy (UV radiation) is required to produce sunburn on protected skin (i.e., in the presence of sunscreen) relative to the amount of solar energy required to produce sunburn on unprotected skin.

All that to say, since it’s a universal scale monitored by the U.S. Government, you can rest easy knowing sunscreen companies aren’t just throwing numbers on bottles willy nilly.

• The scale is a little wonky

While it’s technically true that the higher the SPF, the more protection it provides, the number on your sunscreen bottle doesn’t scale linearly. In fact, a low SPF sunscreen still provides a ton of protection. Take a look:

• SPF 15 blocks 93% of UV rays
• SPF 30 blocks 97% of UV rays
• SPF 50 blocks 98% of UV rays
• SPF 70 blocks 98.6% of UV rays
• SPF 100 blocks 99% of UV rays

As you can see, the higher up it gets, the more the effectiveness starts to taper off. And the difference between an SPF 30 and an SPF 100 is a measly 2%. Like we said. Wonky.

• Timing is everything

An often debated question is how often to reapply sunscreen when you’re going to be outside for extended periods of time. The answer to that age-old query depends on the time of day.

Sunscreen loses effectiveness over time relative to how much solar energy it’s fending off. For example, if you’re outside for one hour at 9:00 a.m., you could be exposed to the same amount of solar energy as 15 minutes at 1:00 p.m.

So at midday, when the sun is being extremely extra, you should shorten the intervals at which you reapply as opposed to the morning or evening.

• Location is too

Due to the tilt of the earth relative to the sun, locations at lower latitudes bear the brunt of solar radiation more so than locations at higher latitudes. And if you mix that with an arid climate, that’s a recipe for a quick sunburn.

So basically, if you’re on a beach in Brazil you need to be more vigilant about UV protection than if you’re on a beach in Maine.

• UVA vs. UVB

Only two types of solar radiation travel millions of miles, penetrate the earth’s atmosphere, and smack you right in the face every dang day: UVA and UVB.

UVA makes up 95% of solar radiation and penetrates deep into skin, damaging collagen and causing wrinkles.

UVB is only 5% but it’s very high energy. It damages the surface of your skin and can cause melanoma.

Yeah, pretty brutal. But they’re also responsible for all life on earth so I guess we’ll call it even.

Plus broad spectrum sunscreen does a pretty good job of protecting you from both of them so it’s not that big of a deal.

• SPF is the bare minimum

While protecting your skin from UV damage is sunscreen’s main goal, it doesn’t need to stop there. If you’re a bang for your buck kind of person like we know you are, your sunscreen should be pulling double duty, protecting you while moisturizing, revitalizing, and brightening your skin.

So don’t settle for a sunscreen with no ambition, fill your back bar with SPF’s that can do it all. Just like, oh I don’t know, Lira Clinical’s SPF Line? Five incredible products that will have you walking into the fall glowing while everyone else is nursing their sunburns.