Most people think that the sun is yellow or orange, but in fact, it is white. Most people believe that sunscreens are an unnecessary supplement to the summer season, but in fact, doctors strongly advise earthlings to make their application as ritual as brushing your teeth and eating. Moreover, not only in the summer, not only for women and children, and not only in the context of the beach. For the white sun is capable of both healing and crippling. Moreover, with a predominance, alas, of the latter.
The sun is the best friend of wrinkles
As far as I can remember, my grandmother bought herself a new wide-brimmed hat every spring, which earned me the nickname "Hat". When the mod was over, she ignored this fact. “The sun is the best friend of wrinkles, even in our northern latitudes!”, Shlyapoklyak declared peremptorily, planting another hat even on cloudy St. Petersburg days on her perfectly laid hairstyle.
Once, frying to the redness of boiled lobster under the hot sun of Mallorca, I was horrified to find the first wrinkles on my twenty-two-year-old face, my surprise knew no bounds. A familiar cosmetologist just spread her hands and prescribed vitamin E, carrot juice and ... a wide-brimmed hat in which I had to shockly leave the rest of the summer.
My grandmother left me 38 hats. Perhaps she was the only woman in the city who always wore such rarities. It is also possible that she was the only woman in the city who, even at seventy, looked fifty without any suspenders or injections.
Scandalous Roots of Tanorexia
For many centuries, the image of a slender, white-skinned young lady with an invariable lace umbrella in her hand, swooning at the slightest excitement, was the standard of beauty. In the Balkans, there was even a custom - girls who did not get married for a long time were imprisoned in small dark cells and fed plentifully. Rounding off and white-skinned, they had the highest rating on the marriage market.
The coup in the centuries-old fashion was made by the progressive lady Coco Chanel, who in the 1920s after a sea cruise returned to pale-faced Paris with a golden tan. Another show of her models made a splash - Coco released on the catwalk relatively skinny tanned young ladies, who subsequently adorned the covers of the most prestigious fashion publications. She compared her tanned face to an aspirin pill.
Oil was added to the fire by the famous lover of shocking singer Josephine Baker, who appeared on European scenes covered only with a banana belt. Her skin, the color of coffee with milk, has become the standard of beauty of the era of the sexual revolution.
While Europe was engaged in gossip, the Americans picked up the baton of Chanel. The following news appeared in a California newspaper in 1936: "The local department store has become a battleground. Buyers fought for new models of bathing suits that went on sale in limited quantities. The doctor examined seven injured people. All of them had scratches and bites on their bodies." .
The emotional heroines of this news were the first victims of the tanorexia epidemic (from the English tan - tan) - a manic love for tanned skin, which for several decades has been disturbing earthlings.
Beam to Beam
Let us turn to the facts and figures. Sunlight consists of several components: visible light (400-700 nm), invisible infrared rays (more than 700 nm, perceived as heat) and ultraviolet rays (UV, 200 nm and above). In turn, ultraviolet radiation has three components: UV-A (UVA, longwave), UV-B (UVB, shortwave) and UV-C (gamma radiation). The most harmful ultraviolet C-rays are delayed by the ozone layer. The exception is the areas under the "ozone holes". UV-A and B-rays directly affect our variously protected bodies always and everywhere.
Skin is the first human organ to directly encounter solar ultraviolet with almost all one and a half to two square meters of area. About 85% of UV-B rays are absorbed by surface skin cells. UV-A rays penetrate deeper: 50% of them reach the deep-lying layers or dermis.
Under the action of UV-B rays, special cells melanocytes produce the pigment melanin, which delays the sun's rays from further penetration and partially neutralizes the effect of free radicals. The intensity of darkening of the skin depends on the amount of melanin produced. Simply put - a tan is a consequence of protecting the skin from burns, the body's struggle for vitality, and not a pleasant application to stay in the sun.
Invisible UV-A rays are more humane: they cause localization of the so-called colorless melanin precursors in the deep layers of the skin. As a result of their influence, a slight redness occurs, which turns into a light, unstable tan.
Sunlight - yes or no?
We turn from theory to practice, which in reality is far from chocolate in every sense.
UV-A rays are active, usually until 11 a.m. and after four in the afternoon. With an overdose of UV-A rays in the cells, the content of collagen, elastin and water decreases, which accelerates the aging process of the skin. The most unpleasant consequence of a “good” burn is solar keratosis, that is, thickening of the skin, which is sometimes impossible to cope even with chemical peeling. At the same time, UV-A rays contribute to the development of allergic reactions, including to sunlight, and enhance the action of B-type ultraviolet rays.
A critical dose of UV-B rays, active between 11.00 and 16.00, which tends to accumulate, causes a sunburn of various intensities. The most harmless is the one that we often look in the mirror after the beach, waiting for the transformation of persistent redness into a chocolate tan. It is a one-time overdose of UV-B rays that is responsible for what we “burn”. Kefir, cucumber juice and special products relieve only superficial inflammation, and sometimes irreversible processes occur in the inner layers of the skin, since a huge number of cells are literally burned out. The effects of sunburn persist forever. And even if there are no visible marks on the skin, the burned areas become the most sensitive and prone to the biggest troubles.
A strong cocktail of "good" and "evil" rays is the main cause of photoaging and skin cancer. Dermatologists consider photoaging, which leads to the premature appearance of wrinkles, most often irreversible, to be a catastrophe of our time: human skin withers much faster than the body. As for skin cancer, according to depressing statistics of the World Health Organization, annually up to 2 million new cases of this disease are registered in the world. This is primarily due to ultraviolet radiation, which replaced tobacco smoke in second place.
The first 20 years of a person’s life, his skin is most susceptible to the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation, especially in children. By old age, solar vulnerability increases again, as we lose 10 to 20% of the pigment-producing cells every 10 years.
Particular caution should be exercised in treating the sun with those who have a lot of freckles, birthmarks and age spots on their bodies, have skin defects, as well as those who have had a family history of cancer suffering from changes in pressure, liver, kidney, heart, thyroid diseases glands, to diabetics with benign tumors and undergoing treatment with medications. Pregnant and lactating mothers are not recommended to sunbathe categorically. The list of contraindications does not end there.
Out of respect for the sun, I must say about the good. Vitamin D3, which the skin produces under the influence of ultraviolet radiation, is today considered as an antitumor agent. So dosed exposure to the sun contributes to the death of cancer cells. Traditionally, it is known as an adversary of osteoporosis and a strengthener of the immune system. Ultraviolet produces a “hormone of happiness” and, along with bananas, successfully treats depressive conditions. Here, in general, the main and few advantages.
So the question arises - to sunbathe or not to sunbathe at all? After all, the craving of modern man for the chocolate body is raised to the size of idolatry. The answer is simple - you can sunbathe, but with the mind, for as one victim of UV-B rays put it: "An unbroken mind is the cause of many misfortunes."
The best anti-wrinkle treatment - pizza and sunscreen
They say scientists at the University of Dusseldorf recently revealed that the ingestion of traditional Italian pizza can protect against the harmful effects of the sun's rays. They assure that the combination of its components creates a unique balance in the human skin of substances that prevent the absorption of ultraviolet rays. The main role here is played by the tomato, which almost doubles the skin's resistance. Behind it is olive oil, which in combination with tomato creates three-fold protection. And in conjunction with cheese, flour, eggs, mayonnaise, salt and pepper, the anti-sunburn effect of a tomato increases up to six times. One pizza gives protection for 2 weeks.
Not knowing what pizza was, my grandmother wore wide-brimmed hats. It’s even easier for us - you just need to buy sunscreen. A well-known cosmetologist with many years of categorical categorization of her grandmother once said: "The best anti-wrinkle remedy is sunscreen. And the point." But here everything is not so simple: with an abundance of offers, demand begins to be lost in conjecture.
Before choosing a sunscreen, experts advise determining the type of skin on which it should be applied. The classifications here are fairly unified and divided into phototypes. Here are the most characteristic of them for the inhabitants of Europe.
Phototype I ("Celtic") - very light, pinkish-beige skin, a lot of freckles, blond reddish hair, blue or light gray eyes, a high tendency to sunburn, tanning lies very slowly and usually red. The skin's own skin protection time on a hot afternoon is about 7 minutes.
Phototype II (fair-skinned European) - fair skin, rare freckles, hair color - from light blond to light brown, eye color - blue, green, gray, prone to sunburn. The time of skin self-protection during hot noon is about 15 minutes.
Phototype III (dark-skinned European) - dark-skinned skin, no freckles, hair color - from dark blond to brown-haired, eye color - light brown, slight tendency to sunburn. The time of skin self-defense during hot noon is about 25 minutes.
Phototype IV (Mediterranean) - a fairly dark skin tone, dark hair and eyes, there is practically no tendency to sunburn, tanning occurs quickly and lasts a long time. The time of skin self-defense during hot noon is about 35 minutes.
Accurate determination of the phototype is half the success. In contrast to healthy adults, who are able to independently determine their phototype, children, the elderly and people with contraindications, by default are considered "Celts".
The second half is the right choice of funds. It turns out that even with the well-known SPF will have to tinker.
Not a single filter
The history of sunscreens (SP) began with the search for a means to protect US soldiers from sunburn during the fighting in Africa during World War II. Since then, progress has stepped forward a lot, while many of us are confused. Again, the Americans began to unravel the situation: the US Drug and Food Commission (FDA) ordered all joint venture manufacturers to indicate the SPF (Sun Protection Factor) index on the packaging.
SPF is the level of sun protection factor, indicating how much time can be spent in the sun without the risk of getting burns compared to when the skin is not protected.
To identify the right product, you need to multiply the SPF index by the approximate time of your own skin protection, corresponding to your phototype. For example, an agent with SPF 4 can protect the Celts for 28 minutes, and the Mediterranean for a little over two hours. And again, it's time before the burn! And to abuse it is more expensive.
But SPF is not a panacea. Most sunscreens absorb UV-B rays and absorb UV-A rays ineffectively, resulting in an erroneous sense of security.
Digging deeper in the pursuit of health, you will have to carefully study the tube of the chosen remedy. Sunscreens should absorb or block ultraviolet radiation. Most of the ingredients absorb rays, with the exception of titanium dioxide (Titanium dioxide) and zinc oxide (Zinc oxide), which block them. The former relate to chemical elements and can cause allergic reactions, the latter to physical blockers, are hypoallergenic and non-toxic. It is titanium dioxide and zinc oxide that it is desirable to have in the composition of the product. Anthranilates (Menthyl Anthranilate), Parasol 1789 (Prasol 1789) and benzophenes - benzene oxide, benzyl methylate, sulisobenzene (Oxybenzone, benzophenone, benzophenone-3) protect slightly from UV-A rays. Natural sunscreens include aloe and chamomile extracts, caffeic acid, shea butter (from Shea butterfruit), 1, 3-p-glucans.
An important feature of sunscreens is their photostability - the ability to maintain their structure and properties under the influence of radiation. But the content of the necessary filters is still more important.
Caution - Emirates!
If Thailand is famous for intestinal infections, Africa and the Czech Republic for robberies, and the Caribbean for dangerous insects, the Middle East is an active sun.
Like any place in the world, the Emirates have their own index of ultraviolet radiation (UV Index). It is he who characterizes the level of UV on the surface of the Earth and determines the degree of risk to humans caused by this radiation. UV index values typically range from 1 to 10 conventional units. If at an index from 0 to 2, the degree of risk is minimal and you can be in the sun without protection, then at indicators from 3 to 7 you need to use sunscreen, a hat and good glasses. With an index of more than 8 units, the degree of protection should be maximized.
Emirates, unfortunately, due to their proximity to the equator, are affected by a large number of direct sunlight and the UV index here is high, even in winter. Local experts from science and the beauty industry are sure that at any time of the year without sunscreen and glasses in Dubai, you can’t even move around with small dashes. Especially in the summer.
