So you’re planning a holiday, you’ve already booked one. Or you just want to protect your skin at home from UV damage. There are so many sunscreens to chose from you don’t know where to start. Sound familiar? I’m going to try and break down the difference between tanning oils, sunscreen oils and sunscreen lotions so you know what you’re looking for and what is most suitable for you and your family.
What is Melanin
Firstly, I want to start with Melanin. Melanin is what your skin contains to act as a protectant against the suns rays. Learn more about UV rays here.
UV rays have the potential to burn your skin, melanin acts as a barrier to protect the skin from burning. Some of us have more melanin naturally in the skin, this is people with naturally darker or more olive skin. (The opposite to me). A tan is what happens when the skin is exposed to UV. the skin starts to produce more melanin thus darkening the skin and giving us a tan.
You know when you touch something black when the sun is out and it is very hot, this is because the dark colour absorbs most wavelengths of light. Furthermore the light energy is then converted it into thermal energy making it feel hot to the touch. This is how melanin works. Melanin works hard to absorb the UV from sun light which would otherwise cause damage and protects your skin from the UV.
Tanning Oil
Tanning oils traditionally were something almost everyone had when they went to the beach. SPF has come a really long way over the last few years. A tanning oil as it says on the tin is designed to help give you a golden glow.
Tanning oils help accelerate you ‘tan’. They regularly feature very low SPF, some contain no SPF at all up to around SPF15. They offer minimal sun protection and are designed for those of us who tan fairly easily and don’t burn easily. This is typically those of us with a dark or more olive complexion all year round.
Tanning oils work in the opposite way to a sunscreen. They contain chemicals which help direct and focus UV rays onto the skin. They give you the ‘tan’ by intensifying the rays and therefore increasing the melanin in the skin.
I would not recommend tanning oils for children, they do not provide enough protection and even for adults they’re to be used at your own risk. I don’t believe these products provide adequate sun protection for anyone. You know if you have skin that tans easily or not.
Sunscreen Oil
Okay so like a tanning oil it has a similar consistency, it is easily applied, and it soaks into the skin easily and rapidly and there is no real drying time needed. The added benefit to these is that they’re not particularly sticky and so you don’t end up with half the beach stuck to your butt.
Sunscreen oil is most often what is known as a chemical sunscreen. It protects the skin against the sun’s rays by filtering the sun’s rays. Sun screen oils usually offer the lower range of SPF from 15-30. They do offer protection against both UVA and UVB. Just they often have a lower protection against UVA rays.
The main added bonus to these is that they are transparent and don’t leave that white coloured ghost like hue on your skin and are best when you’re not intending on applying makeup.
I plan to touch more on SPF and makeup at a later date, so sign up to my newsletter to ensure you don’t miss out on that.
Sunscreen Lotion
This is where my sun protection usually fits in. These are the higher level SPF protection and usually the ones with the higher and 5* rated UVA protection too. These are usually the SPF30 – 50 products and are also the most suitable for children.
It is hard to tell what kind of protection you’re going to get just by quickly glancing at the packaging. Ensure You have a high SPF rating, 5* (or as close to 5* as possible) rating. A lot of sun lotions provide water resistance and are fragrance free and suitable for sensitive skin. So do your research before just diving in and getting the cheapest.
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