Did you know that the sun is the number one cause of signs of aging in your skin? That's right. Lines and wrinkles, discoloration, sagging skin all happen naturally with aging but are exacerbated by sunlight, more specifically, UV damage. It's true! Ultraviolet rays from the sun break down elastin in our skin, which is a protein that keeps our skin elastic and resilient. That's why it's so important to keep a quality SPF on hand to help your skin keep its youthful glow and bounce.

What is SPF?

SPF stands for "sun protection factor" and it exponentiates the amount of time you can be outside without getting burnt. For example, if your skin would normally burn after 10 minutes in the sun, by using SPF 30, you can stay out in the sun for 30 times longer without getting burned. In this case it would be 300 minutes. So just swipe on some SPF 30 and you're good for five hours, right? Wrong. Keep reading.

Amount Matters

Unfortunately, most people don't apply enough sunscreen to actually get the full protection of the SPF number. Most people are only getting about half. That means if you regularly use SPF 30, you're probably only getting SPF 15-level protection. And SPF protection doesn't layer. Meaning if you use a moisturizer with SPF 30 and a foundation with SPF 15, you do not have SPF 45 protection-you have SPF 30 protection at best. Luckily, this problem has an easy fix: use the correct amount of product or use a higher SPF. Or do both!

Are All SPFs Equal?

Some people will try to persuade you to believe that any sunscreens higher than SPF 30 all offer the same kind of protection for your skin. Maybe that's true, but if you're only getting about half the protection because of the amount of product you use, wouldn't you rather have higher protection? Plus, a recent study published in Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that sunscreens with higher SPFs were more protective than their lower-SPF counterparts. We're going to side with the dermatologists on this one; the higher SPF, the better.