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Why You Need a Facial Sunscreen

With spring upon us (liar. It’s still effing freezing. Spring is not upon  us at all), we three working girls got into a debate: is the sunscreen in your makeup enough, or do you need to wear sunscreen in addition to your makeup? Katie 2 was alone in her belief that you should always wear sunscreen, regardless of whether your makeup has SPF in it. (Disclaimer: she doesn’t always do it, just like she doesn’t always get her oil changed at 3,000 miles. Sometimes it’s a little closer to 3,500. But she tries…)

One thing we were all in agreement on is that sun damage is not cool. We know that SPF is important (especially for Elizabeth and Katie 2, who are PALE. This is the first time in Katie 1’s life where she hasn’t been included in the definition of PALE. Awesome). But how much do you need? After all, we are adults who spend the vast majority of their time indoors during daylight hours #working. I mean, we have SPF in our skincare, primer, foundation, and powder. That’s enough, right?

To answer that question, we wanted to give a little bit of background. (Note: Katie 2 took a lot of this introductory information from a great episode of the Stuff You Should Know podcast. If you don’t listen, you should.) So there are two kinds of UV light: UVA and UVB. UVA causes long-term damage to the skin, while UVB is what burns your skin. (Need a way to remember? UVA=aging, UVB=burning.) (Those people that say their sunburns turn into suntans? Totally full of Sh**. That can’t happen.) You want to protect against both. 

So what is SPF? SPF stands for “sun protection factor” and is used to measure a sunscreen’s effect against UV rays. There is a really convoluted way to determine the potency, but basically SPF is all related to the amount of time you can spend in the sun without getting burned. (Note: Another resource we used is the Dr. and Mrs. Guinea Pig podcast, which is great for learning health, wellness, and beauty tips.) The higher the SPF, the longer you can go, but even SPF 70 only gives you about an hour before you are at risk.

Did you know that you can’t add SPFs together? If your primer is SPF 15 and your foundation is SPF 30, you are not protected with SPF 45. Now there is no clear answer as to what the SPF is. The best case scenario is that you get the highest of the two. Worst case? You average the two, leaving you with SPF 22.5 (which based on SPF rules gets rounded down to SPF 20). Not that impressive anymore, is it?

“Ok,” you say. “I get it. I need SPF in my life. And I have it in my moisturizer and foundation. Get off my back!” No way! According to a dermatologist we talked to, in order to get the full SPF benefit that is listed on your beauty product, you have to apply a LOT of product. Like a lot. Way more than you would normally put on your face. If you put on a separate sunscreen, you can actually use less, because the product is specifically formulated to do one job and do it well. Also, the products used in makeup are often made of chemical blockers that can degrade with sun exposure. Another problem is that using multiple products may have a dilution factor, and possible conflicts with the active ingredients in those different items may leave you less protected than you thought. A facial sunscreen is designed to combat all of that, as well as be water and oil resistant.

So what about those cloudy days? Or in the winter? Or for those of us who are indoors during daylight? UV rays are present even if visible sunlight is not. UV rays (both kinds) penetrate cloud cover. The winter months are bad  when the UV rays hit you from above and below as they reflect off the snow. They can  even reflect off puddles of water (no joke). UV rays also penetrate glass, just like visible light. So if you have a desk near a window, or if you sit on a train car with windows, or you have a window in your car, you are at risk! Want to hear something else crazy? Your computer screen may emit UV radiation. LCD screens do not, but not all flat-screen monitors use LCD technology.

In conclusion, everything we came across online, via podcast, and via conversation with a dermatologist says that even if you spend most of your days indoors like a real working girl, the SPF in your makeup is not enough, and you really do need to wear a separate sunscreen. It just has more durability than makeup. Other things to think about:
  • Don't forget about other parts of your body that are exposed. Even if you're not concerned about skin cancer, wrinkly hands and decollete are not cute and not easily fixed with a little bit of injectables
  • Look for "broad spectrum" SPF to block both UVA and UVB rays
  • In the morning, apply your sunscreen then wait 5-15 minutes (the recommendations vary, but everyone says to wait) before continuing with the rest of your makeup routine
  • If you want something easy to use, try Colorescience SPF. Its' a sunscreen face powder. It's easy to apply, reapply, and carry around with you
  • Layering is good! Keep your beauty products with SPF in addition to your facial sunscreen. Chances are, your application technique isn't perfect so you will likely miss a spot. If you apply multiple products, the chances of missing the same spot entirely are greatly reduced.
Even after our initial discussions, Katie 1 and Elizabeth were not sold. Any you may not be either. But a little bit of information never hurt, right? 
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