by Swarna K

Created on: June 13, 2009   Last Updated: June 16, 2009

With people getting more and more skin conscious, the use of cosmetics has also increased. Woman these days have become very conscious regarding their skin and their color. With summer at its peak, working woman especially has to take a lot of care these days because of the suntan or sunburn. Beauticians and dermatologists suggest sunscreen to fight suntan and sunburn and prevent the skin from the damage caused due to the harmful ultraviolet radiation of the sun which penetrates deep into our skin and thus causing suntan and sunburn. In addition, the UV rays of the sun damages the skin and leads to skin cancer. So regular use of sunscreen can protect from all the damage.

However, the debate here is does sunscreen really works? Well, it does work to an extent, if applied properly. A sunscreen contains chemicals which absorbs the sun rays and prevent the sun damage. It contains a sun-protecting factor (SPF). In addition, the effect of the lotion depends on the SPF, if the SPF is too low, then it may not help protect from sun damage, whereas if the SPF is high, then it really works. So, the higher the SPF, the greater is the protection from sunburn. Sunscreen absorbs the UV rays and scatters them, thus causing protection from sunburn.

The use of sunscreen depends upon the melanin in your skin or the pigmentation in your skin, like those who have a darker skin or complexion or pigmentation, can apply little sunscreen and they have less risk of skin damage, whereas, those who have a white complexion has greater risk of sun burn and so they have to apply sunscreen on a large quantity daily. In addition, apply sunscreen to all the exposed parts of your body, so that there is no suntan. In addition, people with darker pigmentation can apply less SPF sunscreen while white skin people should apply high SPF sunscreen.

It is very important to note that while you are swimming, the applied sunscreen literally washes away and there is a constant exposure in the sun until the time you are in the pool, so you have to apply sunscreen very frequently when going into the pool. It is not necessary that sunscreen has to be applied only during summer or when it is sunny, daily application of sunscreen in all the season will have more benefit in the skin.

However, one has to be very careful while selecting a sunscreen lotion, because sometimes a unbranded sunscreen may have a negative affect and it may damage your skin. So research carefully and select the best sunscreen for your skin.

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