Is Sunscreen “Needed” In The Wintertime? Are you careful about applying sunscreen in the winter?
What do you think? Is Sunscreen “Needed” In The Wintertime?
We can jump right into things: Yes, wearing sunscreen in the winter is a necessity. Just as wearing your sun hat, sunglasses and sun blocking shirt, the basics will keep your skin healthier.
You likely associate the sun’s damaging rays with the warmth of having them beat down on you. You feel the heat on your skin. Even when it is cold, you can feel the heat on your skin.
The warmth reminds you of the sunburn possibilities, but the dangerous heat waves don’t always feel warm on your skin. They can do some damage even when they don’t feel very hot.
Just like the sun when it is cloudy. You may not feel the rays, but I have felt the uncomfortable shoulders and arms of a cloudy day on the water.
The damage may take a bit longer in the winter to accumulate, but it will. This is why wearing your sun blocking clothing will be so effective for protecting your skin in the wintertime. Covering your skin is easier than ever with the accessories that are available in SPF fabrics.
Taking care of your skin is a year around responsibility. Just because the days are shorter, and maybe the air not so hot, it does not mean that the sun’s rays are not going to damage your skin.
Yes, natural sunlight is important for our overall health. You do need to know when to say that you have had enough sun. Damaged skin happens in the winter as well as the hot summer. Just takes a sunshiny day! Add unprotected skin and you are burned!
Sunscreens May Feel Luxurious In The Winter
In the summer, after a day out in the air and water, your skin needs to have moisturizer. However, the summertime may just make you feel oily if the moisturizer is a bit heavy. The heat of the day may linger.
Wintertine is a great time for the sunscreens filled with buttery emollients. They can feel so good. The hydrating will pamper dry, winter skin.
When applying sunscreen, winter tine is a good time to double your sunscreen. Of course, any use of sunscreen is a good start. Any protection with sunscreen is a start.
If you are doing something where you have the time, a way to pamper your skin a little extra? Is to use the mineral sunscreens that I have been trying to figure out how to use, and not have the white or discolored skin.
Now, I have fair skin, so in all honesty, it isn’t the problem for me like for some of my darker toned friends. Moving into the tinted formulas has worked well. Many like to put a layer of the regular untinted, then cover with a layer of tinted.
Now, this is just on my face. I like the fact that the 2 layers of sunscreen, a mineral formula that is tinted, and then one that is tinted in a soft pink color makes my skin look almost like it has a toner on it.
I need all the help I can get, so have appreciated the bit of cover I get. It does take a few minutes, and so I don’t always do the two layers.
However, I will try to more as I am trying to protect my skin more.
Is Sunscreen Really Effective?
When I do the double application of the mineral sunscreen, I get a more effective protection for my face. It stands to reason the rest of the body will benefit more as well with extra attention.
However, I know me, and 2 layers over all the body may be a bit much for me to try for. I will be better off staying aware of the time I have been in the sun, and monitor my exposure time. This can also be an effective way to control sun damage.
Using tinted sunscreen on my ears and neck, isn’t recommended since it might get on yourclothes. This is what’s making the tinted mineral sunscreen use on our bodies be a bit difficult. We suggest sticking to a single-sunscreen application on your ears and neck and body with an untinted formula.
Now to clear up any question, the double sunscreen method isn’t about amping up the sun protection. As long as you’re using the correct amount of sunscreen, just one layer will do. Nor does it add to your SPF number.
You may have more actual coverage, that’s not how the actual SPF works.
Rather, the doubling of the layers tones down any white cast you may face with a zinc oxide formula.
It is recommended that you stay consistent with your formulas. If you use a mineral non-tinted mineral sunscreen formula, make sure you use a mineral-tinted sunscreen for your second layer, and vice versa. Not a chemical formula with a mineral formula.
What SPF Sunscreen For Wintertime?
In the wintertime the SPF rating in your sunscreen is recommended to be at least a 30 by the Skin Cancer Center. Yes, you get some protection with a 15 SPF. But you are more aware now, and realize that protecting your skin is an ongoing battle.
We know that we should put sunscreen on everyday. Summer and winter. I have found an easier way for me with sun blocking clothing. I always hated the oily feel of sunscreen. Even speciality formulas were soon feeling slick and unpleasant.
Adding more layers of sunscreen was hard to do. Once I realized that wearing sun blocking hats, my sunglasses and a sun blocking loose fitting long sleeve shirt kept me save from sunburn, staying safe became easier.
I am not as good about the later applications when I am in the house and just dealing with the reflected rays in the house. Working on awareness is making me pay more attention, and putting on another layer is getting easier.
Is Sunscreen Good For Your Skin?
When I think about how much better my skin is looking since I am more aware of the sun. Applying sunscreen more often. For me, sunscreen is definitely good for my skin.
However, there is one area that’s I often overlook. My hands. The skin on our hands is one of the first places to show aging.
Just like the rest of my body, sun damage on my hands also increases the risk of fine lines wrinkles and worst of all, skin cancer.
They get as much skin exposure as the rest of your body and we often forget how delicate they can be.
Just think of all the times you were driving, the sun’s rays through the windshield is literally quietly causing severe damage to the skin on my hands. I don’t even realise it, most of the time.
The best and easiest way to apply sunscreen to your hands regularly? Layering on a hand cream with SPF already in it. Actually, at the end of the day if you already have hand cream in your purse it won’t be so hard to swap it out for an SPF version. If not, get one in there!
However, I encourage you to opt for a formula that’s specifically made for your hands. Don’t try mixing your current cream with a bottle of sunscreen. You want one that is made for hydrating and UV Blocking.
This kind of formula will keep your hands soft and properly moisturized, and add that layer of sun protection we need.
Is Sunscreen Really Important For Wintertime?
Why is sunscreen just as important in the winter?
Temperature should not be a factor for determining if you are going to use sunscreen or not.
Snow Intensifies the Sun’s Rays. Snow and ice could reflect up to 80% of the sun’s harmful rays.
So it is important for your skin to have some protection for your skin. Your face, neck, ears, nose and cheeks are where skin cancers are usually found first. You need sunscreen when you are out in the sun for over 15 minutes.
So I am sorry, but you absolutely do need to use sunscreen. Yes, the sun feels delightful on your skin, but the different types of UV light it emits puts your skin at risk for sunburn.
Sami’s take on Is Sunscreen “Needed” In The Wintertime
The wintertime sun is deceptive. Yes, the sun feels so good when it is cooler outside. Sometimes, we are lulled into the bright sun’s rays longer than our skin can handle.
It makes me feel like I am being a bit of a drama queen! After all, it is wintertime. And that is why I end up with a sunburn. Normally my wintertime sunburns are not as bad as the ones I get in the summer. There are shorter days to help end the unintended overexposure.
But why have any sunburn at all? It all puts us one more step closer to skin cancer. I know I have already used up all my get off free cards. Being careless throughout a life time will do that.
I already have skin cancers. It doesn’t just happen in the summertime!. My neighbor is having her 2nd surgery on the spot on her arm. The spot started getting itcy and open sore like in December. That is definitely the results of prior exposure.
Unfortunately this is her 3rd surgery in the past year. It is too bad that we get by so often before the problems show up. It isn’t too late to prevent “new” damage. However, her “old” damage is ongoing.
Using sun blocking clothing, including sun hats, sunglasses, loose fitting long sleeve shirts, sunscreen is step one. Next add choosing your hours to be out in the sun to the times of day, before 10 AM and after 4 PM in the summer are so important.
Stay hydrated, take a break in the shade. All the important safeguards in the summer will work in the winter as well. Pay attention, and keep your skin healthy.