Each person s body reacts differently, and you may not have the same reaction every time. Check with your doctor or pharmacist before getting out in the sun when you re taking any medication. Some fragrances can make your skin more sensitive to sunlight wherever you apply them on your skin for example, bergamot, citron, lavender, sandalwood, and musk. Consider all these factors when you re deciding on a sunscreen. Each sunscreen is appropriate for different uses and activities, so read the label to make sure you re getting what you need.
Sunscreen ingredients absorb or block and scatter UV rays.
Different products will give you different levels of protection from UVA, UVB, and IR rays. The SPF rating system was set up by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to measure how much UVB sunburn protection a sunscreen provides. There s no rating system yet for measuring UVA or IR protection. The SPF tells you how much longer you can be in the sun before burning when you use a sunscreen than when you don t. For example, a fair-skinned person who would normally start to burn after 10 minutes in the sun could be in the sun 15 times longer if he used a sunscreen with an SPF of 15.