ATBBeauty Notes: Does your office have glass windows?
Paula Begoun in her book "The Original Beauty Bible" says:
UVB rays can’t get through glass, so there’s no risk of sunburn when you sit in a car or next to a window, but that’s the good news. The bad news is that UVA rays can get through windows. Normal glass doesn’t protect skin from UVA damage, so sitting in a car or next to a window that lets daylight through offers no UVA protection whatsoever.
You all know that UVA = Aging & UVB = Burning & Tanning.
That means that using a light dusting of spf 15 compact in the morning just because you spend only 5 mins in the sun is not enough. Once you reach office, you may not be tanning anymore but your skin is aging.
This really came as a shocker to me, as I always wipe off my sunscreen once in office. My floor does have really big glass walls (the side facing the road is completely tinted glass). While my desk is quite far away from it (about 10 ft) I still am surrounded on two sides by glass walls. I'm gonna keep that sunscreen on now & possibly stock a lotion in office to top up once I'm in.
Did you girls know about this? Do you also wipe off your sunscreen once in office?
OOoooo..thanks for the tip!!! :)
ReplyDeletevery nice article,would keep in mind...
ReplyDeleteOoh! I don't wipe off my sunscreen. But this tips is a total surmise t me!
ReplyDeleteHey Tanveer,
ReplyDeleteMy mom's doctor said that Indians shouldn't use a sunscreen higher than spf 15-20 as our skin is designed to tolerate the sun more than westerners. In fact, he said, we need the sun.
He said that so many women follow western trends & use a higher spf like 50/60 & don't go out during the day which isn't at all recommended for our complexion. This results in lower synthesis of Vitamin D & the cases of deficiency of vitamin d have been increasing in the city.
He also said that nowadays he recommends at least 20 women on an average in a week to go for morning walks to soak up the sun. I've been using an spf 20 for the past couple of years, so I feel ok about it. What do you think???
Tanveer i seriously agree with Gauri here. I also read dat Indians should NOT use more than SPF30 for the above mentioned reasons.
DeleteRecently, a study also came that one should not run away from sun and should soak up sun for atleast 20minutes daily . this study was specially meant for the kids and women.
Thanks for sharing your Dr's perspective Gauri. He cld be right, I'm not a certified medical professional so I'm not really going to ask you to do things differently esp since you say they work for you.
DeleteInstead I'll just give you my thoughts about the issue & leave it to your better judgement to decide.
I know for a fact that our skin doesn't tolerate sun better than the western ppl. It is just that we tan instead of burning. And that is not true across the board. I'm an Indian, and I burn first and then tan. Melanin itself concurs only an spf of 2 at max, and a tan is a skin of skin damage. Like a callus on the foot is a sign of damage when you wear ill fitting shoes. To say that the callus is a sign of higher foot tolerance to tight shoes is not accurate.
Secondly he is right about spf 30 being enough. The problem is that most people apply only half the sunscreen needed. To reach the actual amount of spf as stated in the bottle one needs to use one tablespoon of the cream. I know that I use less than half becoz it becomes too sticky in our weather. Hence the emphasis on higher spf as it has higher concentration of the agents, hence higher eventual spf on the skin.
No sunscreen blocks 100% of the sun's rays.. even spf 75 blocks only 98% so you are getting 2% in any case to make vit D. As a vitamin it is easily available in milk, eggs & green leafy vegetables. I take a multi - vitamin supplement daily which has Vit D so I don't have an issue. But I wld advice you to follow your dr in this case. If he thinks you need to take a walk to overcome your deficiency, I suggest you do what he says.
I personally don't rely on a sunscreen as my first defense against the sun. I use an umbrella during summers and sunglasses & a scarf through the year.
The thing is that Indian women age very differently frm western women - esp when it comes to sun damage.
Western women tend to get fine lines and they get them earlier, Indian women on the other hand have thicker skin and don't show much signs until they hit 50 & then bam! you see sagging, loss of collagen, loss of firmness & hyperpigmentation. By then it is too late to reverse any of this.
In the end, do what feels right to you. It is after all your skin & the responsibility lies with you. I hope this helped :)
It did. Thanks... :)
Delete100% agree with u Tanveer. Not all India are rich on melanin on their skin! My skin burns like hell when under sun for long, redness is next and then is tanning. Indian women comes in all skin colors and skin types. If you have sensitive skin and/or very pale/fair then you will have to use a sunscreen with higher SPF.
DeleteProtect urself today to save urself from aging tomorrow!
and along with caps and scrafs, I always have a yellow umbrella in my bag (HIMYM style)
My friend's doctor told her that we don't get Vit D if we're exposed to the sun INDIRECTLY. I drive to work for an hour, and thought I was getting a full hour's worth of Vit D making sunshine - turns out that my rolled up windows are NOT enough. Sunshine should be direct, NOT even through glass windows!
ReplyDeleteBut I am very confused with sunscreen application - I have oily skin, and so I can put on sunscreen in the morning, over which I will put foundation. But, if I need to re-apply at work, I need to put it over the foundation? And then how do I make it less shiny? Should I re-apply foundation over it again? HELP!