What the SPF numbers on suncream actually mean will blow your mind
Many of us have stood prevaricating over what kind of suncream to but, but what do those mysterious SPF numbers actually mean?
Britain is due for a heatwave in the coming days, and that means that across the UK anyone who plans on heading outside should reach for the suncream.
It's all very well enjoying an afternoon in a beer garden, but no-one likes waking up after a delightful day in the sunshine to find that their neck has turned the colour of a ripe tomato and bits of them are peeling off.
Needless to say as well, there are significant health implications from exposure to too much sunlight without wearing proper protection, including skin cancer.
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All this to get across that if you are planning on enjoying the sunshine, and who could blame you, then it's very important to ensure that you're looking after yourself.
But buying suncream can become a challenge in itself - do you save money and go for the lower SPF, or take no chances and get the higher one?
And what does that number even mean?
One idea is that the SPF number is an indication of the strength of a suncream - the higher the number the stronger the protection that you'll have from wearing it.
'SPF' stands for 'sun protection factor', and means a very specific measurement for how strong a particular suncream is.
The SPF is the amount of time that it would take for you to burn while wear the suncream versus how long if you weren't wearing any suncream at all.
An SPF 30 means that it will take you 30 times longer than no suncream, so if you would burn in one minute without suncream you will burn in half an hour with it, while SPF 60 would mean you would burn in an hour.
TikToker Dr Michelle Wong shared the difference in how much sun you're getting between SPF 30 and 50.
In a video on her channel, she explained that SPF 30 means that you get about three percent of UVB rays, that's the sun-burning type, hitting your skin, and SPF 50 has about two percent.
This might seem like a small difference, but relatively speaking that means that SPF 30 allowed 50 percent more rays to hit your skin than 50, so it's actually a much higher protection.
The Skin Cancer Foundation spoke to Steven Q. Wang, MD, a dermatologist who also specialises in dermatological oncology, so skin cancer, who warned of one mistake that people often make, particularly when using a higher SPF suncream.
This is being lured into a false sense of security by the higher SPF, meaning that people may not reapply their suncream either after a certain amount of time, or after swimming or sweating.
They may also be overly reliant on suncream, and not take other precautions, such as wearing protective clothing or enjoying the sun from the shade.
Kit Roberts