Evading Those January Rays

January weather in the UK = cold, dark and rather uninspiring. At this time of year I can hardly remember what sun cream is, let alone contemplate putting it on my face. So why did I buy a tube of it yesterday?

Sadly, it's not because I'm off to somewhere hot and sunny, and it's also not because Leeds has inexplicably been forecast a heatwave (the reality is basically rain and snow forever).

I actually bought it after watching a documentary on BBC iPlayer called The Truth About Looking Good with Cherry Healey. (Which I SO recommend for anyone who is a fan of beauty and skincare.)

On it, a scientist said that 75% of lines and wrinkles are caused by a lifetime of sun damage, and that this damage isn't just caused by being on a beach in Barbados, but also by sitting indoors, in front of a window, in the middle of winter. This is because UVA rays are not blocked by glass.
I couldn't believe that this could be true, but when they compared the wrinkles around each eye of a coach driver, the side that tended to get the most sun exposure through the coach windscreen, had noticeably more lines.

Apparently, we should be wearing something with both a high SPF and a high UVA rating everyday. The UVA rating is shown in stars, often on the back of a product. I'd thought that a product containing both of those things would be easy to find, but I actually couldn't spot anything at all in Superdrug, and could only find 2 sun creams in Boots that had anything above a 3 star UVA rating (the scientist said you need at least 4 stars).

So many brands, such as Garnier Ambre Solaire and Hawaiian Tropic, only had a UVA rating of 3 stars. In the end, the only 2 products I found with 5 star ratings were both made by Boots: one from their No7 brand and the other from their Soltan range. As there was a £9 difference I went for the Soltan option; why pay more than double the price when the skin protection is the same?

I was, however, really pleased to see that the daily moisturiser I already use, from Boots Botanics (see the photo at the top of this post - which I promise is not sponsored by Boots!), is SPF15 and has a 5 star UVA rating! So my new routine is to use that in the morning, then top up with a bit of Soltan at lunchtime.

Are you someone who wears sun cream daily?

Lisa x