Sunscreen can be confusing, and those little info drops on your sunscreen bottle even more so. Today, we’ll do something very simple: look at how brands declare UVA protection on their bottles and tubes.
SPF – what?
First, you’ll find the SPF on every bottle of sunscreen.
We all know what SPF (sun protecion factor) means, right? Right?!?!?111 (Here’s a refresher.)
Wikipedia to the rescue:
The sun protection factor is a measure of the fraction of sunburn-producing UV rays that reach the skin. For example, “SPF 15” means that 1⁄15 of the burning radiation will reach the skin, assuming sunscreen is applied evenly at a thick dosage of 2 milligrams per square centimeter (mg/cm2).
Wikipedia
In other words, protected skin (in this case with SPF15) can stay in the sun 15 times longer before burning than unprotected skin. But SPF only refers to UVB rays and doesn’t tell how high the UVA protection of a sunscreen is.
Why we need protection from UVA rays
UVB filters will protect you from burning, and UVA filters will protect you from aging processes.
But it’s not that simple. UVB rays will be absorbed by clouds and trees and don’t penetrate skin deeply. They fluctuate during the day. Still, they can promote inflammation that can result in sunburn and DNA mutations that might result in skin cancer.
UVA rays don’t differ in strength all year round, and will penetrate skin more deeply than UVB rays. They’re most used in tanning beds, can penetrate windows and clouds. They also damage collagen and keratin strands that keep your skin supple and might even damage DNA, resulting in skin cancer.
How UVA is declared
Annoyingly, there’re different systems used worldwide.
- UVA in a circle: used in Europe, means that UVA protection is at least 1/3 of the SPF.
- PPD (Persistent Pigment Darkening), mainly used by some French brands: equivalent to SPF, it tells you the exact number of UVA protection.
- The PA (+ to ++++): used in Japan and Korea, means Protection of UVA, and is based on the PPD.
- PA+ is PPD 2 – 4
- PA++ is PPD 4 – 8
(The first two are neglible, I feel.) - PA+++ is PPD 8 – 16
- PA++++ = PPD > 16.
- “Broad Spectrum” is a term used by manufacturers in the USA: 90% of absorption is in the range up to 370nm.
- The Boots Star System is used in the UK. (Boots is a UK drugstore chain.) The Star System shows the UVA value relative to their SPF value: if the UVA protection is 90% or more of the SPF – 5*. 80-90% get 4*, 60-80% get 3*.
(Science Becomes Her discusses that the system isn’t able to tell you the PPD exactly, there seem to be some variants in play.)
Annoying? YES!
It’s high time that brands declare the PPD of their sunscreens instead of letting consumers figure out an approximate number. I want surety when I apply sunscreen, and not a generic answer like “we adhere to European/Australian/US law with our labeling”. YES OF COURSE you do, because otherwise you couldn’t sell your product. Please remind brands that you expect more (and that means not only correct labeling, but also sunscreen with high UVA protection).
Absolutely, we are the only brand, skinara, in the world today to declare our UVA – protection factor on our label of AgeScreen sunscreen. We are proud to be UVA 45 and SPF 40. We are in New Zealand and also ship to the US and worldwide.