We’ve all got our beach bodies sorted (that part was easy.) All you have to do is put swimmers on your body and hit the beach. Boom! That’s beach-body sorted!
But apart from your gorgeous bod, what else do you need to bring to the summer sesh? Read on, sun seekers - these are the 5 must have products for the perfect summer.
If you’re planning on having fun in the sun, get yourself a UPF 50+ rash vest.
UPF stands for Ultraviolet Protection Factor, and this is a system that measures how much of the sun’s radiation your clothing absorbs. The more radiation your clothing can absorb, the less will reach your luscious skin. INK in WATER gear is proud to be UPF50+.
A thin white cotton T-shirt is rated roughly UPF5+, meaning a 1/5th of the sun’s radiation can reach your skin. The good news is that only 1/50th of the sun’s radiation will make it through your stylin' INK rash vest.
To find out more about the incredible science behind UPF material, read What Does UPF50+ Really Mean?
Don’t head out under the sun without a hat protecting your pretty face! Wearing a hat provides you with extra-shade and protects your scalp.
If you’ve ever been sunburnt along the part in your hair, you’ll know how painful this can be! Wearing a hat also protects your hair from the summer sun. Why spend all that time getting highlights if you don’t plan on looking after them, right?
If you think hats are just for primary school kids and dorky dads, then we’ve got news for you! There are a wide variety of functional and fashionable hats on the market.
Take the uber chic Australian company Lack of Colour; their entire label is dedicated to creating stylish hats that make a statement. Creators Tess Corvaia and Robert Tilbury hail from Queensland - so you can trust them to keep you looking cool in the heat of the moment.
Don’t just reach for that tired old tube of sunscreen that’s rolling around in your car. Start 2019 off the right way by making your skin a priority.
First, ditch any sunscreens that are out of date. These sneaky creams are just sunburn waiting to happen. The expiration date is there for a reason guys - past this, and your sunscreen won’t protect your skin.
If you’re into your watersports you’ll need a tough, water resistant sunscreen. Not only does the sun shine on you when you’re surfing or paddleboarding, but it reflects off the water around you and bounces straight back (this reflected light is why we can also get burnt in the shade).
For days that you don’t spend much time in the sun, a facial moisturiser that contains SPF is ideal. It won’t be as heavy as a sunscreen, so it’s perfect if you work indoors or just briefly walk from location to location. A facial moisturiser with SPF may also suit you if you have sensitive skin or skin that is prone to breaking out.
The SPF rating of sunscreen generally ranges from the very low 10+ to the standard 50+. Experts argue that what really matters is how often you reapply. So, remember to slap more on after towelling off!
Pay attention gentlemen, because this includes you too! Summer can really put your hair through the wringer - lots of sun exposure, salt, sand, chlorine, the list goes on.
If you don’t want to get a telling off from your hairdresser at the end of the season, get your summer hair routine in place now. There are loads of enriching serums and hydrating products out there that will help you combat split ends and dryness.
There are even sun protection sprays made especially for your hair, because there’s no point getting that beautiful balayage done if you just let fry in the sun. Everyone’s hair is unique, so we recommend speaking to a hairdresser or researching online to find out what’s best for you and your hair.
Hot tip: Rinse your hair with cold, unchlorinated water before you dive into that pool. Your hair will be fully saturated and won’t be able to suck up the chlorinated pool water.
It’s 2019, there’s no need to be putting up with towels that take ages to dry. Nowadays you can get microfibre towels that dry in a hot minute with technology that allows sand to slip off easily. Don’t be that person that’s lying as stiff as a board on a soggy, small bathroom towel - show yourself some self-love!
Summer is here and we can smell the hot chips, so don’t let the sun catch you off-guard. With these 5 products to hand, you’ll be able to beat the heat with no problems at all.
By Amy Farrugia
]]>Ok, so we all know what that last one means, and it’s got nothing to do with swimwear (although our rash vests are definitely out of this world!).
But what about SPF and UPF? These acronyms get spoken about a lot, and whilst we tend to know they’re a good thing, do we really know why that’s the case? At INK, we know our stuff inside and out – so here’s what you need to know about sun protection!
UV rays, or ultraviolet radiation, are the reason you tan (or the reason you get sunburnt when you take things too far) Found naturally in sunlight, UV rays are a type of electromagnetic radiation. The sun sends electromagnetic radiation to the Earth in different waves and frequencies and together, all these different wavelengths make up the electromagnetic spectrum.
On this spectrum, UV rays are between visible light and X-rays. You’ll sometimes hear people speak about UVA or UVB, and that’s because there are three types of UV rays.
UVC has very short waves and is mostly absorbed by the ozone layer, meaning it doesn’t reach earth. However, UVB has medium waves and UVA has long waves. Both can get past the ozone layer and enter the earth’s atmosphere, causing damage to your skin if you’re not sun-smart.
95% of the UV radiation that enters the earth’s atmosphere is UVA radiation – so, we are all going to be exposed to a fair amount of it during our lifetimes. The intensity of UVA rays stays roughly the same no matter what time of the day it is, and they can penetrate through clouds and window glass. UVA penetrates the skin a lot deeper than UVB and is partly why some of us experience premature aging or ‘photoaging’. This is when unwanted wrinkles, leathery skin, and pigmentation show up after you’ve spent lots of time in the sun; unprotected. Scientists used to think that UVA only caused fairly superficial problems like wrinkles, but now they know that UVA does contribute and may even be the initial cause of skin cancer.
Us Aussies often get told that we should stay out of the sun during the hottest part of the day, which here is from 11AM until 3PM. This is largely due to the presence of UVB rays. Unlike UVA, the intensity of UVB rays will change depending on the time of day and season. UVB rays are the main cause of sunburn, and they play a big part in the development of skin cancers.
This is why we hear the most about UVA and UVB rays – because they can potentially cause us skin damage.
SPF stands for Sun Protection Factor. You’ll usually see SPF written on your chosen tube of sunscreen, followed by a number. This is alerting you to how much protection from the sun that blend of sunscreen has to offer. While all sunscreens vary in their ability, their main goal is to protect our skin from UVB and UVA rays.
We tend to misunderstand how SPF works. It turns out that there is a bit of maths involved, so stay with us here!
SPF indicates the length of time your skin is protected from sunburn, depending on your skin type. Say you have extremely fair skin, and start to burn after about 5 minutes in the sun. SPF 30+ sunscreen would protect you for 30 x the 5 minutes it takes for your to burn (so 150 minutes in total).
It can take anywhere between 5 - 30 minutes before you start to get sunburnt, depending on your location, the time of year and your skin type. If you’re someone who sweats a lot, if you don’t apply your sunscreen 30 minutes beforehand, if you towel dry yourself off - this will affect the amount of sun protection you have. That’s why it's important to keep reapplying your sunscreen at least every two hours
In 2012, us Australian’s lifted our standards. No, we didn’t all stop dating people that were bad for us - instead, we upped the maximum protection that sunscreen can offer from SPF 30+ to SPF 50+. SPF30+ filters out about 96.7% of UVB, whilst SPF50+ combats about 98% of UVB radiation. Granted, the difference is small, but who really wants to be exposed to more radiation than necessary?
UPF stands for Ultraviolet Protection Factor. It is a system used to rate the level of protection provided by sun protective fabrics, and it’s sort of the new kid on the block. SPF is a much older rating system, it’s been around since the early 1970s helping us to measure sun protection. But UPF standard was established in Australia in 1996. It signifies protection from both UVA and UVB radiation.
UPF measures the how much of the sun’s radiation is absorbed by the fabric that you’re wearing or, the converse, how much radiation will actually make it through the fabric and reach your skin. If you’re wearing a rashie that offers 50+ UPF, then only 1/50th of the sun’s UV radiation will be able to reach your skin.
Reaching for swimwear, or any type of clothing, that offers UPF makes a lot of sense because our clothes are our first line of defense from the sun’s rays. So, how does UPF fabric work? Normal fabric, the kind you’d find in a plain white cotton t-shirt for example, is made from thousands of tiny fibres woven together. If you looked at this fabric under a microscope, you’d be able to see loads of tiny spaces between all the fibres. These spaces aren’t visible to the naked eye, but they allow UV radiation room to pass through and reach your bare skin. Some materials will absorb some of this radiation, and if they are tightly woven, this further reduces the chances the radiation has of reaching your skin. A thin white cotton shirt has the UPF rating of about 5, meaning 1/5th of of the sun’s radiation can pass through it. A rash vest that’s comprised from polyester and spandex, however, can have a 50+ UPF rating because these materials are tightly woven and absorb the radiation.
The colour of your clothing also has an impact on its UPF. Dark colours absorb more of the sun’s radiation than lighter colours of the same material. But that doesn’t mean we all have to be all doom and gloom! Bright, vibrant colours like reds absorb a substantial amount of radiation - which is good news for all the vivid guys and girls out there.
The iconic Australian poet Dorothea Mackellar is famed for her love of this sunburnt country and, although she definitely wasn’t referring to skin cancer, she unknowingly hit the nail on the head.
Unfortunately, we truly ARE a sunburnt country. It is thought we can attribute 95% of our melanomas to overexposure to UV radiation. The Cancer Council suggests that roughly 2 out of 3 Australians will have been diagnosed with skin cancer at some point by the time they reach 70 years of age. Our incidences of skin cancer are amongst the highest in the world, 2-3 times greater than our friends who live in Canada, the USA or the United Kingdom.
There are three main types of skin cancer, these being
Aside from any genetic factors or your specific skin type, the following are major factors in determining whether you will have to deal with skin cancer in your lifetime.
Every time you act the fool and get sunburnt, you’re increasing your chances of developing skin cancer. Even if you don’t get sunburnt, regular exposure to the sun’s radiation adds up. So, no excuses for not wearing your rashie just because it's a cloudy day.
You’re much better off getting your tan out of a bottle than by baking in the sun. Getting a tan from lying in the sun means that you have been exposed to enough UV radiation to change the colour of your skin. This change in colour? It’s not a sign of good health, it’s a sign of sun damage.
If you do opt for a spray tan, don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re suddenly protected from the sun. You still need to put on sunscreen and wear UPF clothing. A fake tan may look good, but it makes no difference to the sun.
In 2016, all commercial solariums were banned in Australia. This wasn’t done for no reason. This ban was put into effect because solariums emit both UVA and UVB rays and these are what cause skin cancer. While solariums are legal overseas and remain overseas, there is definitive proof that using them increases your risk of developing skin cancer. Stay well away from them my sun-safe friends!
Skin cancer is certainly a scary topic, but there are so many things you can do to be sun safe. If you get in the habit of making sun safety a priority, you’ll be taking care of your health without even realising it.
All the science, statistics and acronyms behind sun safety can be overwhelming, but if you break things down step by step it’s not as complicated as it sounds. You’ll find SPF in your sunscreen. You’ll find UPF in sun protective swimwear. And you’ll find the INK in WATER fam at the beach, living it up in a sun-safe manner!
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