There is one single rule that every beauty writer in the world knows as the most golden: wear sunscreen, always. If you have dry skin, wear sunscreen; if you have sensitive skin, wear sunscreen; if you don’t do anything else at all for your skin, just wear sunscreen. If you begrudgingly apply SPF 15 every day and refuse to go higher, that’s your prerogative, and at least you’re protected. These days, however, the rest of us are up to SPF 50 for the simple logic that the higher the number, the more likely you are to be shielded from the sun.
But there’s a limit to this logic too–after SPF 35, really, increases in sun protection factor are only marginally more protective, so there’s no reason to expect a SPF 95 anytime soon. That being said, for the palest among us, take the highest level of protection possible and run with it, because sun damage (think: wrinkles, roughness and uneven skin tone) is no joke. Here are some sunscreens that will serve you best as the warmer months truly settle in:
If you’re a beginner to all of this SPF talk, firstly, welcome! Secondly, don’t be thrown off–you don’t need a fancy cream in a glass jar with a gold lid to keep UV damage at bay. If you’re a novice, or even if you just have ridiculously sensitive skin, a good place to start is with Cetaphil’s Daily Facial Moisturizer SPF 50 ($17).
