Healthy Sunbathing with Sunscreen

Spring has finally arrived in Germany and I think most countries enjoy some warmer days already. Since the beginning of spring is usually the start of sunbathing and so many people want to get the perfect tan as fast as possible, I thought it would be time to set the focus on sunscreen, to enjoy the tanning process on a healthier way.

I hope by now, you have heard already that the exposure to sun can be damaging to your skin. Sunburn is the most popular form of damage, but too much exposure to the sun can also lead to faster skin ageing (wrinkles) and skin cancer.

Too avoid all this, there are different things you can do.
Alone the wearing of clothes means protection from the sun to certain degrees. But, who wants to wear long sleeve shirts and jeans at the beach?
Another option is to stay in the shadow and not directly in the sun. I think most people don’t want to take a parasol with them and trees to lie under are very rare to find at the beach.
That leads to the only save option, the sunscreen, which you can find in various forms as lotions or sprays. That sounds easy, right? Just apply some cream and be good for the rest of the day. But there is more to know and it all starts with your skintype.
First compare your skin to the ones described in the 6 different categories below:

The Celtic Type

-very fair skin (almost no pigmentation)
-red or light-blonde hair
-green, blue or light-grey eyes
-freckels
=> Self-Protection Time: 10 min

The Nordic Type
-fair skin
-blonde or light-brown hair
-blue, green or grey eyes
-often freckles
=> Self-Protection Time: 10-20 min

The Mixed Type
-medium skintone
-dark or light-brown hair (very rarely light-blond or black)
-every eye color possible
-occasionaly freckles
=> Self-Protection Time: 20-30 min

The Mediterranean Type

-brownish or olive skintone (even if not tanned)
-brown eyes
-brown or black hair
-no freckles
=>Self-Protection Time: 30 min

Dark Skintype

-dark skintone often with greyish undertone
-dark eyes
-black hair
-no freckles
=> Self-Protection Time: 60 min

Black Skintype

-darkbrown or black skintone
-black eyes
-black hair
-no freckles
=> Self-Protection Time: Over 90 min

Now that you know in which category you belong, take a look at the Self-Protection Time at the bottom of your category. Naturally, your skin has an own level of protection against the influences of sun. That means,  you can stay in the direct sun without getting burned, as long as you stay in the time frame of your Self-Protection Factor/Time.

We are going to work with this value in a moment.

The next important step is to determine what ‘Sun-Protection-Factor’ (SPF) your sunscreen should have.

In general you can say,  the higher your Self-Protection Time, the less SPF needs to be included in your sunscreen. But this is just a minimum, you can always use a higher SPF.
Here is an example: If you are a ‘Nordic Type’ you should use SPF 20-25. A ‘Mixed Type’ should use minimum SPF 15, but if you are a ‘Black Skintype’ you’ll only need a minimum of SPF 4.

A false interpretation is to think, once you have your sunscreen on you can stay in the sun all day, if you just regularly reapply the cream. That’s wrong! There is a maximum time you can stay in the sun and be protected, which is lower/shorter than you might think.

If you’ve determined your skintype and you know the SPF of your sunscreen of choice,  you can easily calculate how long you can safely stay in the sun.

Self-Protection Time x SPF = Maximum time per day

 Let’s assume again, you are a ‘Nordic Type’ and apply a sunscreen with SPF 8, we come to the following conclusion:

20 min x SPF 8 = 160 min

I hope this was helpful and you feel more secure from now on during your relaxation in the sun.

Happy Sunbathing :-)