Wearing sunscreen lotion with a high SPF is good practice to protect the skin from the harmful rays of the sun. But what does SPF stand for anyway?

SPF is an acronym for Sun Protection Factor. Generally, the SPF of a sunscreen allows the user to stay in the sun for a specific period of time before they get red (which means their skin is burned). For example, light skin tends to get burned in about 6 minutes when left unprotected. This length of time is called the minimal erythema dose (MED for short). So, if a person with light skin wears an SPF of 20, you multiply the SPF of 20 with their MED of 6. That person will then, theoretically, be able to stay in the sun for about 120 minutes before they get red. Sound confusing? Here’s the formula:

SPF rating x your MED=length of time safe to stay in the sun.

Therefore, it’s important that you wear a sunscreen with an SPF suitable for your skin. Consider how long you’ll be staying in the sun, and remember that lighter skin tends to turn red in a shorter time than darker skin.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 at 10:04 am and is filed under Make Up and Beauty, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.