SUNSCREENS

SUNSCREEN.....No I'm not going into the explanations or the the differences as there are so many and I mean a ton of explanations on these things out there. I will just point a few things that one needs to keep in mind at the thought of sunscreen. 

I never wore sunscreen and had bad skin throughout my life as there were too many responsibilities to shoulder and no one to explain such details frankly. FRankly, it was only after I got married, I took care of myself and was able to reverse most damage. Of course, hormonal issues and health issues can affect our body but such things might help us age gracefully, if that makes any sense.But in this day and age of the internet...its a blessing we can gather so much info and arm ourselves with basic knowledge and know what to choose...on what basis to choose and how to defend our skin and everything else under the beautiful sun.

1. SPF 30 is okay for normal days but if you plan to be by the beach...its better to opt for SPF 50.
2. Sunscreen needs to be applied every 4 hours . IF you wash up and reapply on a fresh face better.
3. French and Japanese and Korean brands are considered the best and are expensive as well. 
4. Natural sunscreens or chemical...now there is an issue between the 2 but some sites say that natural don't always work the best.
5. SPF up to 55 is just as good. There is no actual need to go beyond this SPF as it doesn't make a difference.
6. Products that contain zinc oxide or titanium oxide are good and they cause a white cast on the face like you will notice on the cricket players.
7. Based on consumer reports , La Roche Posay SPF 60 milk fluid one is the best and is on the pricey list. But there are other brands that are good too.
8. Other than looking for SPF on the bottle... one should also note the PA +s. I think there are up to 5 pluses. The more the plus..the most effective they are in protecting your face from UV A and UV B both.
9. You can apply Makeup over your sunscreen and adding the SPF of sunscreen and makeup is wrong. Your sunscreen should have the proper SPF and additional SPF on makeup is not to be added as the protection barrier.
10. The amount of sunscreen is a good teaspoonful of it on your face every 3 to 4 hours. as sunscreen wears off with time. 
11. Apply your sunscreen 15 to 30 minutes before leaving home. Allow the product to sink into your skin, be absorbed properly to protect you.
12. The  purpose of sunscreen is to protect your skin from being damaged and against skin cancer. The lighter the skin, the more prone it is to cancer and damage. That's why we brown girls are blessed that way as our body produces more melanin to protect us.

What else did I learn.... I hope I ain't forgetting any good points I learnt. I have just got L'Oreal Paris UV Perfect Aqua Essence Advanced watery gel sunscreen, which has  SPF 50+ and PA ++++.

Note :

PA ranking refers to the amount of protection the sunscreen offers from the UVA rays, since SPF just ranks protection from UVB rays.PA rankings are listed as PA+, PA++ or PA+++ with the more plus symbols the more protection from UVA rays, the rays that may cause long term skin damage and therefore age the skin.

SPF measures sunscreen protection from UVB rays, the kind that cause sunburn and contribute to skin cancer. SPF does not measure how well a sunscreenwill protect from UVA rays, which are also damaging and dangerous.

 An SPF 15 product blocks about 94% of UVB rays; an SPF 30 product blocks 97% of UVB rays; and an SPF 45 product blocks about 98% of rays. "After that, it just gets silly," he says. Sunscreens with higher SPF ratings block slightly more UVB rays, but none offers 100% protection.

P.S.

This is the information I gathered from the internet and its to provide basic info in simple layman terms. I nearly went crazy trying to find a good sunscreen. The thing is as one ages, we need to care for our skin other than all the other responsibilities we handle everyday. A little care goes a long way. I will not suggest a list of good and bad sunscreens here. Its a personal choice as what one should actually look for has been mentioned here.