Why you should be wearing sunscreen year-round!

Hello! Thanks for checking out our blog at Laser Loft, where we are here to educate and empower our clients!

With winter coming up, it is more common for people to stop using their sunscreen. While this at first makes total sense, by the end of this blog I am committed that you see why that is the farthest thing from the truth! Especially if any of you reading are 30+, pay close attention!

So, just to give you a little bit of background here. The sun emits 3 types of rays; UVA, UVB, and UVC rays.

UVC Rays: These rays are INCREDIBLY harmful. Thankfully, the atmosphere filters these rays so they do not ever reach the earth’s surface. In fact, if these rays reached the earth, we would all probably be burnt to a crisp!

UVB Rays: To make things easier to remember, you may call these guys the “burning rays”. These rays do not have the capability to penetrate past the superficial layers of the skin (epidermis) therefore, they are partly responsible for the “tanned” effect that you see on your skin after a day or two. UVB Rays are mostly filtered by the atmosphere, but not completely. During the winter, this isn’t such a pressing issue.

UVA Rays: Okay you really want to be paying attention now, because these are the big guys. Since a good majority of UVB rays and all of the UVC rays are filtered out by the atmosphere, these are the primary rays (95% shown in research) that affect YOUR skin. While UVA rays are not as strong as UVB rays, they are present during all daylight hours with relatively equal intensity no matter the temperature. They can penetrate through clouds AND glass. So yes, even on a rainy day. And yes, even when you are just driving all day long. You can also think of these UVA rays as “aging rays” since they penetrate deeper into the skin and have recently (like the past 2 decades) been shown to play a huge role in aging and wrinkles. Some helpful photos are provided for you to the side!

Now the question is: how do I protect myself from those harmful UVA rays? That again, are present during all daylight hours, at all times of the year? Even winter?

Answer: WEAR YOUR SUNSCREEN! To protect yourself from both UVA and UVB rays, you want to make sure that you are using a Broad-Spectrum Sunscreen (this just means that your sunscreen is covering all of the harmful rays!)

To sum it all up, if you want to start doing something about your aging skin before you spend thousands of dollars on treatments to reverse sun damage later on, start wearing it NOW! At Laser Loft, we carry a few different types of sunscreen that all offer broad-spectrum protection!

If you found this blog valuable to you, please leave us a comment below! Thank you for reading! <3

-Alexis