Sun Protection, UV Protection
Skin Damage Caused by the Sun
Overexposure to the sun's invisible rays - ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB) can cause skin damage. The damage can be immediate and long-term, with effects ranging from sunburn, rashes, and cell and tissue  damage to premature wrinkling and skin cancer. Indeed, many skin changes that often are identified with aging actually result from damage by too much sun. Repeated sun exposure can also destroy the collagen in your skin, causing it to sag & wrinkle. Any tan is a sign of skin damage. Tanning occurs when the skin produces additional pigment (coloring) to protect itself against sunburn from ultraviolet rays. There are approximately 500 times more UVA rays in sunlight than UVB rays. UVA rays also play a role in skin cancer formation. In addition, the UVA rays penetrate more deeply into the skin and play a greater role in premature skin aging changes including wrinkle formation ("photoaging"). Therefore, in addition to protecting your skin from the effects of UVB rays, it is also very important to protect it from the damaging effects of the more numerous UVA rays. Traditional chemical sunscreen products have been more successful at blocking UVB rays than UVA rays.
Skin cancers take a long time to develop - anywhere from 10 to 30 years - so early prevention is very important. Although exposure to ultraviolet radiation does not always result in skin cancer, it does have an immediate effect on the immune system and that causes a weakening the body's ability to destroy cancerous cells and other disease-causing agents.
Photosensitivity is a serious problem, especially for those with lupus. But with the proper know-how, those with lupus can lead a normal outdoor life. Sun protection should be an important part of your everyday life!
How to Protect Your Skin
UV protection can be accomplished by selecting a sun screen or sun block product according to the SPF rating to achieve optimum protection for your needs. SPF is a numerical rating system to indicate the degree of protection provided by a sun care product. It is based on a multiple of the time required by the sun to produce a given effect (redness) on an individual's skin without protection. For example, if your skin would normally burn in 20 minutes with no protection, using a sun screen product with an SPF of 6 means you could spend an additional 120 minutes (or 2 hours) in the sun without burning.
Sun-protective clothing or accessories offers another way to protect skin from the harmful effects of the sun. Sun-protective fabrics differ from typical summer fabrics in several ways: they typically have a tighter weave or knit and are usually darker in color. Sun-protective clothes have a label listing the garment's Ultraviolet Protection Factor (UPF) value, that is, the level of protection the garment provides from the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays. The higher the UPF, the higher the protection from the sun's UV rays.
The UPF rating indicates how much of the sun's UV radiation is absorbed by the fabric. For example, a fabric with a UPF rating of 20 only allows 1/20th of the sun's UV radiation to pass through it. This means that this fabric will reduce your skin's UV radiation exposure by 20 times where it's protected by the fabric.
Dark - vs. - Light
If you thought that dark-colored fabrics absorb the sun's heat the same as,  say, dark-colored cars, think again! In general, it's true that dark colors can absorb more heat - with some fabrics you can feel the difference in temperature, while with other fabrics there is not a noticeable difference.
Light-colored fabrics, however, usually let more UV radiation through - which is what really matters for sun-sensitive people. On a hard surface (like a piece of wood painted white) the white would reflect more light than black would. But this is not the case for fabric. In fact, the makers of Solarweave mill a slightly thicker fabric when making their white Solarweave, because light-colored fabric lets more UV rays through than a darker-colored fabric.
The Solar Protective Factory produces the world's best selling brands of sun protective fabrics. Those brands include: SPF®, Solarweave®, Solarknit®, Solartwill™, Solarcanvas™, SolarCotton™ & Strollerweave.
Solarweave is made by a special process and blocks at least 97% of the harmful UV rays – even after extended use! It has a minimum 30+ UPF. Moreover, Solarweave is light-weight, comfortable, durable and breathable. SPF® fabrics are UV rated and tested according to rigid US testing protocols and standards, which include 40 home launderings and 100 hours of UV exposure.
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Solarweave parasols for the best UV protection!
