All products with an SPF or UVAPF are tested at the exact same amount, 2 milligrams per each square centimetre of skin (2mg/cm2). If you’re just dusting on your foundation or powder with SPF, to matte the skin or provide minimal coverage, you’re not getting the SPF/UVAPF on the label.
I’d recommend that you use a sunscreen (about ½ a teaspoon for the face and neck), let it dry (about 15 minutes), and then apply your powder for best protection.
There are newer sunscreens that contain primer ingredients like silicones and hydrogenated polydecene built-in.
P.S. Where’s the ½ a teaspoon for the face and neck recommendation coming from? Estimations – two of them. The first estimation is the density of an average sunscreen, and the second estimation is the average area of a face. It’s not accurate for everyone, but the exact amount (2mg/cm2) is difficult to translate!
We can do better, science doesn’t have to be exciting and groundbreaking all the time. People are curious, it’s time for the media to stop treating us like we’re naive or stupid.
…but I can’t seem to get rid of the white cast. I know you shouldn’t mix mineral powders with sunscreen, but is there any reason I can’t mix unadulterated cocoa powder with it to create a tint? Thanks for any thoughts!
Hello!
I’d really advise against this. Part of the protection offered by sunscreen is how evenly they can distribute the sunscreen chemicals on the skin.
Think of a crowd of people with umbrellas in the sun. If they’re all evenly distributed, very little sunlight will hit the ground…but if they’re clumped together, there’ll be more areas where the sunlight can pass through.
Sunscreen chemicals work in a similar way.
By mixing something like cocoa powder into a sunscreen, you can create areas of high sunscreen chemicals and low sunscreen chemicals – creating uneven coverage. Manufacturers use mixers with high shear and force to make sure everything is distributed properly.
If you’re getting a white cast, I think the best way to fix it is to apply your sunscreen…allow it to dry (15 minutes), and then apply a foundation or tinted powder on top!
Bioderma (and many other sunscreen brands) also makes tinted versions of their sunscreen, so you don’t have to worry about the white cast or uneven mixing!
I personally also use their mineral sunscreen compact, it comes in two shades (Claire/Fair and Doree/Golden). I’ll sometimes use the Fair all over, and Golden as bronzer/contour. Shiseido also offers a UV Protective Compact in 9 shades, that you can layer on top of your sunscreen. Hopefully you can find a shade that works for you, if not, a foundation powder with SPF like BareMinerals Ready SPF 20 Foundation will work as well.
P.S. I wouldn’t recommend using a compact as your only sun protection, you still need the recommended 2mg/cm2, and it’s more difficult to gauge how much you’re applying when it’s coming off of a pan!
….I’m a hairy person and I find moisturizer gets sticky in my it and exfoliants get caught in it, especially on my legs and stomach
That’s a great question and a tough one to answer! I hope you’ll find my suggestions useful though.
The first thing you can try is using your current moisturizer right out of the shower, before toweling dry, while your skin is still wet. The extra water will help lubricate the skin and hair. Skin tends to absorb lipids better when saturated with water as well!
Another thing to think about is whether or not your cleanser is too much for your skin. Cleansers are one of the few times we actually remove lipids and moisturizers out of the skin. You could look for an oil-based cleanser, like Eucerin pH5 Skin-Protection Shower Oil. You may find with a less powerful, and more lipidic cleanser – you don’t need to moisturize after showering.
In terms of your exfoliant, if it has got beads in it – there isn’t really much you can do. You could try an exfoliating textured towel (Salux is a popular Japanese brand) or a brush or shower puff – but it’s probably going to pull on your hair and hurt a bit.
I think best would be a moisturizer with a exfoliating acid (applied to wet skin) or perhaps a body wash with an exfoliating acid in it. If you go with a body wash, you’ll want to let it sit on the skin for 30 seconds or more, so the acid has time to work.
I’d also suggest trying in-shower moisturizers, they’re similar to regular moisturizers and creams except they have a lower water content (The water comes from your wet skin!). As the name suggests, you apply them while you’re still in the shower.
Olay, Nivea, and Eucerin all produce in-shower moisturizers now.
If you don’t like being damp, a spray moisturizer may be worth trying.
You could look for Vaseline’s Spray and Go and St. Ives Fresh Hydration canisters.
Lastly, you could try trimming your body hair, but that’s probably not worth it 🙂
It’s important to keep in mind as you study chemistry or any other science that scientific theories are not laws of nature and can never be absolutely proven. There’s always the chance that a new experiment might give results that can’t be explained by present theory. All a theory can do is to represent the best explanation that we can come up with at the present time. If new experiments uncover results that present theories can’t explain, the theories will have to be modified or perhaps even replaced.
