What Is SPF And How Does SPF Work?

Sunscreen helps protect your skin from UV rays, which cause sunburn and the accumulation of cell-damaging free radicals. SPF is one aspect that determines the effectiveness of a sunscreen.

What does SPF mean?

SPF stands for Sun Protection Factor. It measures the level of UVB protection a sunscreen will give you. In Australia and New Zealand the highest SPF rating is 50+. Sunscreen products in Australia also protect against UVA rays.

HOW DOES SPF WORK?

The SPF indicates the length of time that your skin is protected from sunburn. All skin types are different and have varying results from sun exposure. The SPF number is only a guide to its level of protection

Depending on your skin type, location and the time of year, the time it takes for you to begin getting sunburnt varies.

To help you understand a bit better, if you start getting sunburnt after 5 minutes in the sun without any sunscreen, applying a sunscreen with an SPF30 would protect you for 30 x 5 minutes (or 150 minutes) before you start to burn.

There are some other factors that will also affect your level of protection, such as:

How much sunscreen you apply
The weather conditions
If you are wearing protective clothing, a hat, sunglasses
How much you sweat
How long you swim and how well you dry off afterwards
Your skin type

THE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF SPF

As you know, sunscreens vary in SPF.

In Australia our sunscreen standards have the following below levels

What level of SPF is best?

We recommend using a sunscreen with a minimum SPF of 50 or above. No sunscreen can block all UVB rays. However, in terms of percentages, a sunscreen with these differences might seem small but over a lifetime, it all adds up and every little bit of protection helps.

ALWAYS READ THE LABEL AND FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS FOR USE. SUNSCREENS ARE ONLY ONE PART OF SUN PROTECTION. AVOID PROLONGED HIGH-RISK SUN EXPOSURE. REAPPLY FREQUENTLY.