This is What Happens When You Forget your Sunscreen in Winter
Is it necessary to wear sunscreen in winter? It seems counterintuitive. It’s cold, cloudy and you very seldom seem to “burn” during the colder months. So why would you need to apply SPF? We also spend less time outdoors
SCIENCE OF SUNSCREEN IN WINTER
The short answer is yes, of course you need to wear sunscreen all year round. UV damage can account for as much as 80% of the visible ageing of your skin in your face and body. That’s according to a 2013 clinical study[1] by Frederic Flament et al. And, while UVB (cause burning) levels drop in winter, UVA (cause skin ageing) levels stay the same.
A 2018 Nature.com study[2] (Richard McKenzie et al.) found a flaw in the famous international UV Index. There’s apparently still more than enough UV to seriously damage your skin on even the coldest winter days. In fact, another 2013 study by Adèle Green et al. in the Annals of Internal Medicine[3] showed that out of 903 adults under 55, the ones that wore sunscreen every day – winter and summer – showed 24% less skin ageing after 4.5 years.
So, the science is there. But what happens if you forego the sunscreen in winter?
YOU MIGHT NOT BURN, BUT IT STILL AGES YOU
Like we mentioned earlier, the concentration of “burning” UVB rays from the sun are lower in winter. But the amount of “ageing” UVA rays are still the same[4] . So you don’t necessarily feel the damage the sun is doing to your skin in the colder months, which makes it even more dangerous – especially if you’re not wearing sunscreen at all.
In fact, on some partly cloudy days, the amount of UVA in the atmosphere can be much higher in winter. Scientists have observed a phenomenon called the “broken-cloud effect” or “broken-cloud enhancement”, where the clouds actually concentrate sunlight on the earth, ramping up UV levels. And you’ll find plenty more examples in our post on reasons for sun protection in winter.
AND THEN THERE’S DAMAGING INFRARED AND VISIBLE LIGHT
Because of the massive movement to promote broad-spectrum sunscreen that protects from both UVA and UVB rays (in the past, you had to buy two separate sunscreens, one for UVA and one for UVB), we tend to forget that there’s more to sunlight than just those two wavelengths of light. Sunlight is also made up of the visible light spectrum and infrared light, which are still around in wintertime.
Visible and infrared were largely ignored when we created broad-spectrum sunscreen because we believed that they were harmless. But, new scientific research in 2012 has sho[5] wn that these wavelengths of light can and do damage our skins. Infrared and visible light can increase the free radical count in your body, causing oxidative stress, damage by ageing (skin enzymes and MMP inhibitors) and the activation of collagen production.
FREE DAMAGE PRODUCED ALSO CAUSE DNA DAMAGE
Speaking of DNA damage, it’s nasty stuff. Damage to the DNA inside skin cells is a leading cause of ageing and disease – yes, that includes skin cancer. What happens is that sunlight, either directly or indirectly, triggers events in your skin that destroy segments of the DNA (the instruction manual for being you) inside skin cells. The cells then start to shut down or mutate and start promoting photo-ageing or even become life-threatening.
Now, if the UVA levels are still the same and there’s damaging infrared and visible light in winter like we’ve shown earlier, and you’re not wearing full spectrum sun protection, you’re leaving your skin open to DNA damage. Lamelle has developed a sun-protection product that can correct DNA damage (which is more than regular old SPF50 can do). It can only fix recent DNA damage, so it’s best to keep applying it winter, too. That product is Lamelle’s Helase 50+.
THE BEST SUNSCREEN IN WINTER AND SUMMER: HELASE 50+
Helase 50+ by Lamelle transcends normal sunscreen. It offers all the same UVA and UVB protection as SPF 50, but it also protects from damaging infrared and visible light as well as small carbon particles in pollution.
It protects collagen by blocking the formation of MMPs, stems oxidative stress and even includes a recently discovered enzyme, photolyase, that corrects recent DNA damage in a matter of hours. All this makes Helase 50+ the ideal sun protection, 365 days a year.
You can ask your skincare therapist or doctor about introducing the advanced sun protection of Helase 50+.
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You might also be interested in Lamelle’s Nourish range and discovering everything you need to know about sun protection.
Also see these professional sun protection treatments.