Good Advice to Eating Right and Living Right

How to choose your sun cream/ sun block

Sunblock protects your skin by absorbing and/or reflecting UVA and UVB radiation.

All sunblocks have a Sun Protection Factor (SPF) rating. The SPF rating indicates how long a sunscreen remains effective on the skin. A user can determine how long their sunblock will be effective by multiplying the SPF factor by the length of time it takes for him or her to suffer a burn without sunscreen.
The American Association of Dermatology (AAD) recommends that a “broad spectrum” sunblock with an SPF of at least 15 that is applied daily to all sun exposed areas, then reapplied every two hours. However, in some recent clinical trials, sunblocks with SPF 30 provided significantly better protection than sunblocks with SPF15.

However, SPF is only a measurement for Ultraviolet B (UVB) sun protection. SPF gives no protection from UVA rays.

So, a good sun block should have also PA++ label, PA is a rating used in sun products for defense against UVA radiation. UVA is longer, aging rays of the sun. PA is the measure of the change (darkening) in skin pigmentation after exposure of sun, UVA more exact. The indicator for measuring protection offered in a product ranges on scale from + indicating light protection, to ++ for moderate protection and +++ for maximum protection.

So, do pay attention to this SPS and PA ++ label when choosing your sun cream/ sun block.