How I’ll look after 20 sunscreen-free years!

We all know we ought to wear it, yet too many of us don’t bother with a daily sunscreen. Rosie Green finds out exactly why SPF should be top of everyone’s routine

What’s your beauty blind spot? For most of us, it’s SPF. We may apply serums, go for facials and spend sofa-worthy amounts on tweakments, but we skip the one product that will slow signs of ageing and improve our dermis.

A new report by No 7, which landed in my inbox this week, says only 26 per cent of us wear SPF daily. And even when we do apply it, we don’t use enough: Dr Mike Bell, Boots skincare scientific advisor, says, ‘It’s important to apply a teaspoon of product to your face and neck to achieve the labelled protection.’ I use a broad-bean-sized amount.

Sometimes you need to hear the stats on sun exposure again to prompt you into action. No 7 took a good look at scientific studies and concluded, ‘Those who have more sun exposure and do not use sun protection will display signs of ageing far before those who use protection regularly and manage sun exposure.’ Also, that sun is the number-one cause of premature skin ageing – 80 per cent of premature ageing signs are

caused by sunlight. And 40 per cent of annual sun exposure happens outside the summer months, showing the importance of wearing SPF every day.

But, you say, what about my vitamin D? Pah. The research shows that in applying factor 15 for sun protection, vitamin D was still synthesised. And whatever your skin colour, sun damages it.

If you need more proof of the ageing effects of UV rays, here is a potential me (above), both after 20 years being careful about sun

exposure and 20 years not. The images were created by Auriole Prince at futureface.ai, which uses AI to show the likely effects on our skin of lifestyle factors such as smoking, stress, drinking and, yes, sun. Vanity can nudge us towards making choices to benefit our looks and long-term health, and Prince says her visuals help us ‘connect and empathise more with our future self, so we’re more likely to make changes’.

And being diligent about using SPF daily means more

protection from skin cancer. ‘The estimated cost of skin cancer to the NHS was more than £180 million in 2020,’ says Prince. She hopes her tech ‘might not only reduce a significant burden of disease on individuals, but also on NHS resources’.

Convinced? Thought so. One last tip: cosmetic doctor Dr Vicky Dondos says applying vitamin C before your SPF will supercharge protection. Layer up, people!

@lifesrosie

+20 years (with limited sun exposure) Above: Rosie braves Future Face’s AI, which predicts possible effects of lifestyle factors as we age

+20 years (with excessive sun exposure)

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