Hello and welcome to all our new subscribers since the last issue. I've just returned from a four-day Tony Robbins seminar where, among other things, I walked barefoot across a bed of burning hot coals without burning my feet! It was a high-energy, inspiring weekend where 3000+ attendees did this Firewalk and learned that we could in fact overcome our fears and do something we never imagined possible. The last day of the seminar was focused on health and loaded with information and tips on how you can increase your energy and wellness. Knowing that some of the information --especially about diet-- might be considered controversial or met with skepticism by some in the audience, he prefaced his presentation by asking people to keep an open mind and think of what he was advocating as a "second opinion."
Speaking of second opinions and the dangers of getting burned ... this week's article offers my perspective on the validity and usefulness of SPF ratings in sun protection products. If you'd like to hear more on the subject or have information you would like to share, then make sure you visit the Aroma Zone blog where I've been posting some additional thoughts and tell me what you think!
Yours in health and prosperity,
Donya
p.s. If you like our products then help us spread the word! Follow us on Twitter or become a fan of Dropwise on Facebook.
Understanding Sunscreens and the SPF Debate: Are You Getting the Protection You Need?
The alarming increase in skin cancer rates over the past 10 years has led to a proliferation of commercial sun protection products in the form of sunscreens and sun blocks designed primarily to protect you from overexposure to UVB rays --the ultraviolet blue rays that are known to cause sunburn and were long thought to be the cause of melanoma --the deadliest of all skin cancers.
The effectiveness of these products has been largely based on their Sun Protection Factor (SPF) ratings, which start as low as 4 and go as high as 50 or 65. Unfortunately, there is a lot of confusion about what these ratings mean and how effective they really are. This is due in part to a common misconception that if you double the SPF used, you will get double the protection or alternately, double the amount of time you can spend in the sun before you get sunburned. In fact, doubling your SPF results in only a small incremental increase in sunburn protection, and no SPF can give you 100% protection from UVB radiation.
Using higher SPF sunscreens tends to fool most people into thinking they can stay in the sun for longer periods of time and remain fully protected. This thinking overlooks a simple reality --the longer you stay in the sun the greater your exposure is to UVA rays which are now thought to play a much bigger role in causing skin cancer and premature aging. While you might enjoy some additional protection from sunburn with a higher SPF, the increase in exposure to UVA that comes from prolonged exposure may be putting you at a much higher risk.
So how do you know how much protection you’re getting and if it’s what you really need? Well it helps to understand a little bit about how SPF ratings are determined and what other factors come into play that can decrease their effectiveness.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration defines SPF as the amount of time it takes to produce minimal redness (erythema) in skin via UVB exposure, which is visible 16-24 hours after exposure. This is also known as an individual's Minimal Erythemal Dose (MED) and it's achieved when the skin attains the amount of UVB required to produce sunburn.
Arriving at a Sun Protection Factor (SPF) rating involves exposing small areas of a test subject's protected (MEDp) and unprotected (MEDu) skin to five to seven increasing doses of UV energy produced by an artificial light source called a solar simulator. Then a ratio is calculated by dividing the length of time a person can stay in the sun at noon with protection before burning by the length of time a person can stay in the sun at noon without protection before burning. The shorthand for this is SPF=MEDp/MEDu.
The final SPF value is determined by averaging the values obtained from a group of either 10- or 20- test subjects. These calculations don't take into account the fact that MED will vary as a function of time of year, latitude, altitude, and of course, a person's skin color and type. Nor do they include a calculation for protection against UVA radiation. Here's a brief summary of what the different SPFs offer by way of protection:
- As a simple example, an SPF 2 enables the skin to be exposed to UVB twice as long as when no sunscreen is used, before your MED occurs. This means that an SPF 2 absorbs 50% of UV rays, allowing the other 50% to get through, so it takes twice as long for the skin to absorb the amount of UV needed to produce redness.
- An SPF 8 absorbs 87.5% of the rays leaving 12.5% to reach the skin. If you multiply 12.5% by 8, you get 100%, so the skin requires eight times the amount of UV needed to produce redness when wearing an SPF 8.
- An SPF 15 absorbs 93.33%, allowing 6.67% to get through and an SPF 30 absorbs 96.67% allowing 3.3% to pass. SPF 30 does not offer twice the protection of an SPF 15. It offers less than 4% more protection.
It's a challenge to arrive at the right number for SPF products due to various skin types, geography and mountain or ocean level effects. To complicate matters, the solar simulator used for SPF testing only vaguely resembles sunlight -throwing off too much short wavelength UVB and only half of the UVA in real sunlight. This can cause product SPFs to be so unreasonably high as to be almost meaningless, all other things considered.
And if you don't know your MED then it's difficult to know which SPF will work best for you. Unless you are fair skinned, have red hair, or must spend extended amounts of time in the sun, an SPF 15 should be adequate in most cases. A couple of other factors can help you make the most of your sunscreen:
1. Know Your Skin Type
Researchers have identified 6 different skin types and their relative risk for skin cancer. People with Type 1 skin have the highest risk of skin cancer and people with Type 6 skin, the lowest. Knowing your skin type can help you determine how high an SPF you need to be safe. You can read more about this in Michael F. Holick's book The UV Advantage 
.
2. Know Your Risk of Exposure
The National Weather Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) teamed up and developed something called the UV Index, which provides a daily forecast of the expected risk of overexposure to the sun. The Index predicts UV intensity levels on a scale of 1 to 11+, where 1 indicates a low risk of overexposure and 11+ signifies an extreme risk. Calculated on a next-day basis for every zip code across the United States, the UV Index takes into account clouds and other local conditions that affect the amount of UV radiation reaching the ground in different parts of the country. You can find the current UV Index for your city at http://www.epa.gov/sunwise/uvindex.html.
Copyright 2009 Dropwise Essentials
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Donya Fahmy, is a green business owner and the creator of Dropwise Essentials' spa-quality aromatherapy body products that help you safely relieve stress, increase vitality, improve confidence, or simply manage your emotional state any time or place without popping a pill. For more free tips and valuable information visit
www.dropwise.com and subscribe to the Dropwise Health & Beauty News Ezine or blog feed.
Dropwise Essentials is a San Francisco-based manufacturer of pure aromatherapy and organic plant-based personal care products that give people a safe and effective way to relieve stress, increase vitality, improve confidence, or manage their emotional state any time or place without popping a pill. Our products are:
- Free of synthetic chemicals and petroleum ingredients
- Made with high quality certified organic oils and pure essential oils sourced from around the world
- Packaged in re-usable or recyclable materials
- Hand-made locally in northern California
Dropwise Essentials was founded by Donya Fahmy, a writer, producer, and consultant whose avid interest in the curative powers of aromatherapy and herbs ultimately led her to design and create the seven products and seventeen unique essential oil blends that make up the current Dropwise product line. She has studied aromatherapy with Carol Schiller - a successful author of several aromatherapy books - and with Dr. Daniel Penoel - a renowned expert in the field of medical aromatherapy.
Dropwise Essentials is a proud member of the Indie Beauty Network (formerly the Handmade Beauty Network), the Green America Business Network (formerly Co-op America), Green Product Alliance, Natural Ingredient Resource Center, and a Friend of PETA. We were among the first companies to join the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics by signing their Compact for Safe Cosmetics - which simply formalizes our existing commitment to formulate products free of known or potentially toxic ingredients.
Loading... Please wait...
Return to Newsletter Archive
