What is the best SPF to use?
With so many different brands and types of SPF’s on the market, we are asked daily in clinic what type of SPF we recommend.
Choosing a SPF is such a personal experience. Chemical, physical, level or SPF, texture, oil free, matte, hydrating, tinted, clear, price point, reef safe, no ‘nasties’, appropriate for my *insert skin condition here* are all questions we are asked.
So what SPF is the best to use? Read below to make your own mind up.
What it comes down to -
Is it protective enough for what you’re doing?
Is it comfortable and budget-friendly enough that you’ll wear enough of it?
SPF Protection
The most important thing is SPF. SPF tells you how well the sunscreen protects against burning, which is mostly to do with shorter wavelengths of UV called UVB. These are also the most damaging rays of UV – as well as burning, they cause skin cancer and premature skin ageing.
Higher SPF is better, the protection you get is proportional to the SPF number. That’s why the SPF ratings were designed the way they are, the whole SPF 50 is only 1% better than SPF 30 thing is a myth.
For most people, SPF 30 is enough for an everyday sunscreen, but you might want higher protection if you’re getting a lot of sun, or you just want higher protection. The downside of higher SPF is that the formulas can be thicker and less nice to wear, but this has been improving a lot in the last 5 years.
Water Resistance
Water resistance is the final special sunscreen label that’s regulated. It tells you how much SPF protection is left after sitting in water for a particular amount of time.
In general, more water resistant sunscreens are also more resistant to sweat, sand, rubbing, and movement. So it’s a good idea to use water resistant sunscreen if you’re going into the water (obviously), or just moving around a lot while getting sun exposure.
Water resistance is also a bit tricky because different regions use different rules – Australia and the US are strictest with this.
Tinted Sunscreen (or any tinted product, really)
If you have darker skin (Fitzpatrick VI and above) and you’re worried about pigmentation, you might want to use a tinted sunscreen to protect against visible light from the sun.
Physical sunscreens without tint aren’t very good for this, and tinted chemical sunscreens work about as well as tinted physical sunscreens – it’s really just about the tint. Tinted sunscreens aren’t really regulated for visible light protection so it’s hard to say which one is best. Foundation probably works great for this as well.
So, wear a tinted SPF + foundation over the top for the ultimate coverage.
Enjoyment
Aside from protection, it’s really just personal preference, with things like texture, white cast, skin sensitivity and cost. You need a sunscreen that you enjoy enough to apply regularly, and that you can afford to apply regularly, because you do need to use quite a lot of sunscreen.
Texture is incredibly important and underrated, in my opinion – these days there are lots of really nicely textured sunscreens that give great protection, and can feel like primer or moisturiser. If a sunscreen has a texture you hate, it’s more likely to just sit on the shelf unused, and you’re less likely to apply enough of it.
There’s a lot of talk about chemical and physical sunscreens – they’re actually really similar and the things we’ve mentioned above are way more important.
Conclusion
We have tried to source the best feeling SPF’s with great ingredients at Pelci so you don’t need worry. (We have some exciting new products coming soon)
With multiple other factors to take in (another blog post to come because if we included them all in here you would be reading forever) Some will make you breakout, some don’t feel good on application, makeup doesn’t sit well over the top, too greasy, too drying, too sticky, white cast, smell is off, SPF is too low, price is too high - the list goes on.
So, we like the say that the best SPF is the one that you are wearing 30+ or 50+ (in correct application dose) daily.