I'm at the age where I should start taking better care of my skin, but when it comes to reading up on the science and then translating that into deciding on products to buy, my eyes just glaze over. Did anyone put together a simple list of scientifically supported products that I can smear on my face?
Science supports that the sun really damages your skin, so you should absolutely use a sunscreen or SPF 30 moisturizer every morning.
Digging deeper into types of ingredients that block sun, things get a bit more tricky. In general I’ve read dermatologists say “physical” sun screen ingredients are best, like zinc oxide, because they aren’t absorbed through your skin like a “chemical” ingredient. But they also leave your skin looking more white.
And beyond that, just wash your face in the morning and night with a face wash product, not bar soap. Something simple from Neutrogena (Liquid Neutrogena).
If you really are using sunscreen every day, you might want to have your vitamin d levels checked. Low vitamin d is associated with all sorts of adverse health outcomes.
I used to think it was a simple as using the sunscreens with metals in them to reflect the sun and the whiter you look, the more effective, but it looks pretty complicated when I did more research on how UVA and UVB are blocked.
For one, it seems legislation to study the ingredients in the US was only passed Nov 2019. Even the size of the titanium and zinc particles affects the effectiveness.
The Mayo Clinic link is probably the best summary, to just use something and avoid peak sun hours. But it seems the non metal sunscreen ingredients are also important to project via absorption.
