How to protect your skin from the summer sun

2 Nov 2021

Summer is around the corner, but the South African sun can be brutal on your skin. Here’s how to get the most of your summer skincare ahead of the warmer months and protect your skin from the rays.

As warmer weather approaches and lockdown levels have eased up, the summer months are squaring up to be radically different from last year. And while South Africans may be yearning for days on the beach and in the sun, your skin is not.

Even if you don’t plan on laying yourself out for a tan like a chop on a Sunday braai, you still need to be wary of the sun and exposure to UV rays.

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation from the sun, according to the American Cancer Society, and higher-energy UV rays are a form of ionizing radiation which can damage cells’ DNA and cause cancers. UV rays cannot penetrate deeply into the body, which means that their main effect is directly on the surface: the skin.

“Heat from the sun dries our skin out, and UV radiation from the sun burns our skin and causes long-term changes to the structure of our skin. These long term changes cause premature ageing of our skin in the form of pigmentation and wrinkling in the best-case scenario, and in the worst case, cause cancers — some of which can be life-threatening,” explains Dr Cara Duminy, who focuses exclusively on aesthetic and anti-ageing interventions and is the owner of Cape Aesthetics.

There are three types of UV rays: UVA, UVB and UVC, but as the latter don’t reach the ground, UVA and UVB cause the most concern for your skin.

“UVA rays cause free radical damage and are able to infiltrate down to the deep layer of the skin where it damages the collagen scaffolding which makes our skin elastic,” explains Dr Vanessa Lapiner, a specialist dermatologist and the Director and founder of Atlantic Dermatology and Laser.

This leads to skin damage that can cause skin ageing, pigmentation and wrinkles, says Dr Dalize Willemse, who specialises in aesthetic, anti-ageing and cosmetic medicine and works with Skin Renewal in Cape Town.

UVB rays have slightly more energy than UVA rays and are the main cause of sunburns. UVB rays also cause DNA mutations and are thought to cause most skin cancers, which in South Africa make up around 30% of cancer cases.

“A sunburn is a warning that you have exposed your skin to enough UV to cause DNA damage putting you at a greater risk for skin cancer,” says Lapiner.

A scorching South African summer

“In South Africa, particularly in the summer, our dose of UV is so high that even short incidental exposures, like walking from your car to the shop or chatting to a friend in the school car park, add up to huge lifetime UV doses,” Lapiner explains.

“A healthy tan is one that comes out of a bottle.”

“A broad spectrum formulation of at least SPF 30, preferably 50, is vital living in a country like South Africa with the amount of UV exposure we get,” says Duminy.

“If there was something you could rub on your skin to prevent cancer, would you use it? Well, the fact is that there is, and sunscreen it is! Beyond the perceived vanity of wanting to age well, skin cancers are real and they are common in South Africa, and sunscreen does help to prevent them. A healthy tan is one that comes out of a bottle.”

How to protect your skin

“If you’re not going to protect the skin from UV then you’re wasting money on any other single aspect of your skincare regimen,” says Lapiner, who explains that applying SPF is “the single most important step” to taking care of the skin.

In fact, Willemse recommends making applying sunscreen a part of your daily routine with the same dedication “as you would any other chronic medication”.

“The skin is the largest organ after all, thus it should be treated with the same respect we do other organs. It is important to remember to use a broad-spectrum sunscreen, even in winter months,” she says.

“Sunscreen is always going to be my number one choice. If you’re not using sunscreen every day, rain or shine, winter or summer, indoors or out… you may as well not bother,” says Duminy.

Sun protection factor, or SPF, is a measure of how well sunscreen protects against dangerous rays, says dermatologist Dr Lawrence E. Gibson for the Mayo Clinic.

“Manufacturers calculate SPF based on how long it takes to sunburn skin treated with the sunscreen as compared to skin with no sunscreen,” Gibson says. This means that with an SPF 30 sunscreen, for example, it would take you thirty times longer to burn than if you weren’t wearing sunscreen at all — provided you use it correctly and use the recommended amount.

Lapiner, Willemse and Duminy also all recommended including antioxidants in your skincare, alongside the SPF.

These antioxidants include Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Ferulic acid, green tea, pomegranate seed oil and more, Lapiner says.

“Adding an antioxidant into the mix is the next best thing, particularly in summer when oxidative damage is heightened by outdoor living,” Duminy explains, as “upping your antioxidant game makes a huge difference to your skin’s resilience to sun damage”.

As Nicole Williamson wrote for Maverick Life, “Including antioxidants, either topically or orally, into your daily skincare routine can help minimise and protect against sun damage. Look for skincare ingredients that contain antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin A and ferulic acid, to name a few. These ingredients can be found in serums and moisturisers.

“Antioxidants can also be ingested orally in the form of tablets and powders that are available at selected health and wellness shops, and are also found in some superfoods such as blueberries, goji berries and pecan nuts.”

Take your summer skincare to the next level

Summer and the outdoors often go hand-in-hand, and both the heat of the sun on the skin and sweating can dehydrate your skin.

“This is complicated by the fact that our oils glands are stimulated to produce more oil which contributes to breakouts, making summer skincare a little more challenging,” Lapiner says.

All hope is not lost, however, and there are a few steps to treat your skin the best in the warmer weather.

Cleanse

Firstly, invest in a good cleanser or micellar water to really clear out your pores and wash off the oils (especially from the sunscreens you are now so religiously applying).

“Cleansing your skin properly at night after a day of sunscreen, saltwater or makeup is essential — it can make a huge difference to your skin’s clarity and undo a number of sins,” says Duminy.

“If you put water on your skin after the two cleanses and you can still see that it forms little droplets, it means that there is still oil on the skin and it hasn’t done a good enough job,” warns Lapiner.

Moisturise

“I prefer moisturisers which contain ceramides, squalene and free fatty acids to maintain and defend the skin barrier without being too greasy,” says Lapiner.

“If you have an oilier skin or break out in summer then look for a water-based, gel-based and lightweight formulation,” she says, and recommends hyaluronic acid-based serums “which draw water into the skin” and glycerin.

And what about those moisturisers that contain SPF already?

While you can’t go wrong with more SPF, dermatologists warn against letting moisturisers with SPF replace sunblock.

“Often the SPF is too low (SPF 15-20) and also because these are mostly expensive products, people do not apply them in the required amount, which means that they are getting a much lower SPF,” says Lapiner.

Sunscreen should also be re-applied during the day, Willemse says, and therefore applying an SPF moisturiser once in the morning is not going to be effective as you go through your day.

“A separate sunscreen also has more filters, thus would have better, broader spectrum protection. We would advise our clients to use a broad-spectrum sunscreen even if their moisturiser has an SPF value,” she says.

Instead, Duminy recommends layering your sunscreens. “Use a dedicated sunscreen first (under your make up and over your moisturiser) and then follow that up with a combination product like a tinted moisturiser or a foundation with some SPF,” she explains, adding that if you don’t wear a lot of makeup, a tinted SPF can also do the trick, and also evens out skin tone.

Don’t overdo exfoliation

Lapiner also recommends being wary of chemical exfoliation and avoiding physical exfoliation altogether in hot periods. “Exfoliation can make the skin more sun-sensitive, so either use an ultra-gentle exfoliant or keep out of the sun for five days following a deeper peeling,” she says.

How to treat the dreaded burns

While “prevention is always better than cure”, as Willemse says, there are a few ways to take care of your skin if you do burn.

Cool showers, aloe vera gel and anti-inflammatories can help treat burned skin, and staying out of the sun until the skin has healed is important, says Lapiner.

To make sure your skin heals the best, she also warns against popping blisters or picking at your peeling skin (no matter how satisfying it may be.)

“At the end of the day I have yet to find a single person who wishes they had sunbathed more in their youth, or who wishes they had used less sun protection. What you do now will show on your skin in 20 years time, and we know much more about the effects of the sun on skin than we did 20 years ago — when we know better we should do better, so do better and use sunscreen,” Duminy says. DM/ML

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