L’Bri Pure n’ Natural
For A Lifetime of Beautiful Skin!

Ah, the sun.  It's warm and comfortable, and people use to think that a little color was "healthy." But today evidence piles up against sun exposure.  The damaging effects of the sun are cumulative over a lifetime. An estimated 80% of total lifetime sun damage occurs in the first 18 years of life, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.

A tan is a sign of skin damage: not health. Tanning occurs when the skin produces additional pigment (coloring) to protect itself against sunburn from ultraviolet rays.  Sun exposure leads to skin aging.  The skin becomes wrinkled, leathery, and blotchy.   Tanning also damages the deeper layers of the skin and results in the loss of elasticity.  The damage can be immediate (sunburn, blistering and rashes) to long-term (cell and tissue damage, premature wrinkling and skin cancer).   Many skin changes that occur as we age are actually the result of damage from too much sun.

The sun emits a number of different types of rays. The rays of the sun are very harmful and we could not survive in their direct path.  Ray is short for radiation. Ultraviolet radiation, UVR, is divided into three types: UVA, UVB and UVC, each of which reflect different wavelengths. Radiation exists as waves--much the same as ocean waves. The wavelength is the distance between the tops of two consecutive waves. These rays are known as ultraviolet (UV) rays. The two that we are most concerned about are the UVA and UVB.  UVA rays are found to be more harmful than the UVB rays.  UVC rays are completely filtered out by the earth's atmosphere so they don't reach us, except in certain parts of the South Pacific.

UVB rays, your burning rays, are only partially blocked by the atmosphere, so some gets to us. These are the rays that cause sunburn and some types of skin cancer.  Since sunscreens have traditionally been designed to stop sunburn, it is the UVB rays that they normally block. The SPF number of a sunscreen is an indication of how much UVB a sunscreen will block.  An SPF 2 will block 50% of the UVB rays so you can stay in the sun twice as long without burning, as you would have been able to without the sunscreen.  With an SPF 15, 93% to 98% of the UVB rays are blocked and you can stay out 15 times as long.

UVA, our Aging Radiation, is divided into two parts, long UVA and short UVA. To keep it simple, short UVA behaves very much like UVB. It can cause sunburn and is at least partially blocked by most sunscreens. Long UVA, however, does not cause sunburn. In fact it does not cause any sort of immediate reaction, even in pretty large doses. It turns out that long UVA can cause the skin to age and is likely involved in the more serious skin cancers such as melanoma. Wrinkles, uneven pigmentation, sagging, drooping, "turkey neck" and age spots associated with old age are mostly due to sun exposure and could be prevented with sun avoidance, proper clothing and a good sunscreen that blocks long UVA rays.

However, keep in mind that the SPF number assumes the sunscreen was applied 30-minutes prior to exposure. If you apply the sunscreen after being exposed to the sun, the number no longer applies. Also, if you stay out longer than the SPF claims to protect for, you will be burned. Sunscreens do not provide total protection; they simply lower the amount of UVB that gets to you. It's comparable to standing behind a screen. The screen blocks only some of the light but some continues to get through, so if you stand there long enough eventually you will get burned.

After all this information about skin care, it's important to realize that skin isn't the only part of the body that is susceptible to sun damage. Sun exposure can lead to eye damage, including cataracts, and blindness.

Get smart about sun protection.  Every second you're in the sun, you're being bombarded by UV rays that cause skin to brown, wrinkle, shrivel, turn leathery and malignant.  It's a killer tan all right! 

Tips for Sun Protection
For the maintenance of good health, sun protection is essential.   At L'Bri, we hold firm in the knowledge that the regular and liberal use of broad-spectrum sunscreen is the key to healthy, protected skin.
   

1. Reapply sunscreen every 2 hours when outdoors, even on cloudy days.
2. Wear a broad-brimmed hat and sunglasses.
3. Sit or stand in the shade whenever possible
4. Use L'Bri sunless tanning lotion if you want "color."
5. Avoid reflective surfaces, which can reflect up to 85 percent of the sun's damaging rays.
6. Protect children.  Minimize sun exposure and apply sunscreen to
   children aged 6 months and older.
7. Avoid tanning beds.
8. The sun's rays are strongest between 10am and 4pm.