BEAUTY MYTHS: SPFs

Our many years in the industry – we started in 1989 – means that we’ve learnt to separate Beauty Fact from Beauty Fiction …

S T O P – T H E – P R E S S

Lipsticks with SPFs, Moisturisers with SPFs, Eye Cream with SPFs, Make Up with SPFs… They are everywhere! If I had a penny for every time this scenario occured at my clinic:

Constance Campion: Do you wear sunscreen? New Patient: Oh yes. I already use SPF every day: my tinted moisturiser has SPF in it, my eye cream has SPF in it, my lip balm even has SPF in it…. Constance Campion: [Tears hair out]

W A K E – U P !

Most cosmetics – particularly moisturisers – labelled with an SPF number aren’t designed as intelligent sun protection products. Clinical studies have shown, therefore, that most do not offer adequate protection against the sun’s damaging rays and could be causing much more harm than good.

Our technologically advanced products will naturally hydrate the skin far more intelligently than any over the counter ‘moisturiser’, which typically contain nasty, irritating ingredients, often inflaming the skin and creating a disrupted barrier function (you can’t see this with a naked eye). Resulting in secondary problems, these moisturisers also irritate the skin, leaving it susceptible to even more damage from the sun.

Scared of not using moisturisers everyday? Worried your skin will ‘dry out’? Well, you need to have a wake-up call, re-educate and accept the fact that it was these methods and nasty ingredients which contributed to your dry skin in the first place.

All our technologically advanced sunscreen products contain hydrating emollients in order to support, rather than disrupt, the skin’s natural self-hydrating and exfoliation processes.

U V A – & – U V B – I N A D E Q U A T E – P R O T E C T I O N

Most sunscreens commonly available only protect against sun-burning UVB. However, skin experts now know that damaging UVA is also present in light, both day and night. So confusing is this situation presented to the consumer that the FDA in America has ruled that the packaging on sunscreens needs to be changed.

O U R – A N S W E R

Unlike many competitors, the combination of protective minerals found our products have the ability to provide full spectrum protection. Our products do not contain Oxybenzone or any other chemical due to their inadequate UVA protection and irritation of the skin. Instead, we utalise Zinc Oxide 7.02%, a non-irritating, broadband physical sunscreen. Our mineral sunblocks will continue to protect the skin until it is either washed from or sweated off the skin’s surface.

S P F 3 0 – & – A B O V E

Another beauty myth that makes me mad is products claiming to offer SPF 30+ protection:

Constance Campion: We encourage to all our patients to protect their skin using an intelligent SPF everyday. How do you feel about that? New Patient: Hmm. Not so sure about wearing sunscreen everyday. Even in the winter? And what about my moisturisers? My skin will get so dry… But of course I always wear sunscreen on holiday. I get a top-of-the-range SPF50 for me and the kids. We spend all day in the shade anyway. Constance Campion: And why do you get SPF50 rather than SPF30? New Patient: Because everyone knows that means you are 90 times more protected from the sun. The higher the SPF, the better then protection.

N O !

Countless studies have now proved that sunscreens claiming to have protection of SPF 30 and above offer false promises to the consumer. Primarily, they are their thick nasty white pastes are full of chemicals. Furthermore, they do not offer the protection that they claim: studies have shown that there is actually only a 4% difference in protection from burning UVB between a chemical factor 30 and factor 50.

T H E – I M P O R T A N C E – O F – V I T A M I N – D

Protect yourself from the sun intelligently, but don’t spend your life inside or in the shade when on holiday. Vitamin D is so important for your body, health, wellness and your skin. Check out an article on this important topic by clicking here.