When it comes to skincare one of the most frequently asked questions is “Does sunscreen whiten your skin?”
The simple and short answer to this question is no, sunscreens do not make your skin lighter.
How sunscreen affects your health and skin tone is what intrigues people the most and is the most common concern. To clarify the answer to this burning question, it is important to differentiate the fact from the untruth and to unveil the truth about the connection between skin whitening and sunscreen.
Sunscreen protects your skin, they play a significant role in stopping ultraviolet radiation absorption in skin. Ultraviolet rays can damage the skin and they can cause the skin to get sunburned and skin cancer. Whether you just started your journey toward skincare or you are already a skincare enthusiast Pharma Health will be there to provide you with the latest products like sunblocks and sunscreens to ensure the safety of your skin.
Basics of your skin structure:
To understand better how sunscreen deals with your skin tone, or does sunscreen whiten skin? It is important to first look at the structure of your skin. The outer most part of your skin contain special type of cells known as melanocytes. They are designed to form melanin.
Melanin is a pigment which gives our skin colour, and that colour can range from fair to dark tones. However, the distribution and amount of melanin produced in our skin are related to genetic factors, hormones and exposure to ultraviolet rays.
To understand how sunscreen deals with our skin and more importantly, does sunscreen whitens skin. We need to know how melanin actually works, it provides pigmentation to your skin, eyes and hair.
However, skin darkening can be related to genetic factors and too much exposure to ultraviolet rays, which you try to protect yourself by applying sunscreen. Does sunscreen lighten your skin? Or does it just protect your skin?
What impact does the Sun have on your skin:
Does sunscreen whiten skin? To understand that you have to know the science behind how the sun affects your skin, what causes the tanning to happen and how your skin looks darker after an encounter with the sun. Your skin looks dark and tanned because the sunlight causes the skin to produce more melanin due to which hyperpigmentation occurs. Some sunlight can be good as long as you have your skin protection on.
Solaris SC SPF40 PA+++ is a sunblock gel offered by Pharma Health which isn’t greasy at all and is the best option for sensitive oily skin. Another option is Solaris Ultra sunblock cream which is made up of an advanced formula designed to shield skin from harmful rays. Solaris Cream SPF 35 is a product by Pharma Health which ensures silky skin with proper UV protection.
So, does sunscreen make you lighter? The one you used? Or the one you are using?
Read More: Water-Resistant Vs. Waterproof Sunscreens: What's the Difference?
How does sunscreen work?:
Sunscreens are mostly based on those ingredients which either absorb the rays or scatter them like titanium oxide or zinc oxide. UV-A and UV-B are two types of ultraviolet radiations that are present in the light coming from the sun. Both of them can be deadly for the skin causing sunburn, and long-term problems like wrinkles and age spots. Both UV-A and UV-B rays can be accountable for skin cancer. Understanding them helps us see why it's important to protect our skin from them. Does your sunscreen protect you from these rays and does sunscreen whiten skin?
Whenever someone applies sunscreen on their skin, they encounter dangerous UV radiations in two ways, by either scattering them away from you or by absorbing them. The question remains the same: does sunscreen make you lighter?
Does sunscreen whiten skin?:
The truth behind the myth:
There is a common myth or even more of a misconception nowadays asking “Does sunscreen lighten your skin?” or “Does sunscreen make your skin lighter?” the answer to that is that the sunscreens are not meant to lighten your skin, they are made to protect your skin from the ultraviolet radiations of the sun.
This misconception may have arisen because of how your skin looks after daily use of sunscreen, clearer and lighter. This happens because sunscreens go against UV radiation which is a big reason for hyperpigmentation and dark spots. So when the dark spots don’t occur on your skin, it looks clearer.
Why does sunscreen don’t lighten our skin?:
Sunscreens do not make our skin look lighter, because they normally don’t contain any of the whitening or bleaching factors in them. Which results in having no kojic acid, hydroquinone, arbutin or niacinamide in them which are skin-lightening ingredients. Sunscreens are basically formulated to stop harmful rays from the sun rather than altering the skin tone.
In short, sunscreens are not for skin lightening but they are for skin protection. You should still consult your dermatologist before applying any sunscreen to your skin, interrogate the ingredients in it first and see if they will suit to your skin.
Conclusion:
Therefore, in conclusion, the answer to “Does sunscreen lighten your skin” is cleared with a simple understanding of how sunscreens function. Sunscreens are designed to protect your skin from ultraviolet rays by reflecting or scattering them but it does not have any bleaching or lightening properties for your skin, it is just a protecting agent. It does not alter your skin tone. Therefore the answer to “Does sunscreen make you lighter” is no. But yeah, regular use of sunscreen can definitely maintain your natural skin tone and avoid tanning.