Sun protection in winter? Absolutely!

Everyone knows that you should use sunscreen in summer. But a surprising number of people think that this is not necessary in winter. Unfortunately, this is wrong. Learn: sun protection is necessary all year round, in summer, in winter, and anytime in between. Why?

During the winter and in phases when you spend a lot of time indoors, the skin is not "used to" the sun and therefore lacks pigment. This can be recognised by the fact that the skin is lighter in colour and not tanned. The protective horny layer of the skin is also thinner than in summer. The sun's rays are also less aggressive in winter because, on the one hand, the path of the UV rays to the earth is longer. On the other hand, as the altitude increases (i.e. during the colder months), the sun's rays have to pass through a thinner layer of the atmosphere, which is why they are subject to fewer scattering and absorption effects. In addition, icy and snowy areas can reflect up to 90% of the sun's rays, which is even more than water! Sunburn is one of the possible causes of skin cancer - and sunburn happens easily in winter, as the usual warning signals of the skin, e.g. heating, are not perceived in the cold environment.

What can you do? It's simple: use sunscreen even in winter, even if you are not outdoors during the day. You can choose the SPF according to your skin tone. However, SPF 15 is still the lower limit if you want to be on the safe side.

But be careful, because sun protection is not the same as sunscreen. You can only be really safe with a physical filter and you should make sure that there are no nanoparticles in the sunscreen.