How much do you know about your sunscreen? We look at how sunscreen stops the signs of ageing as well as the skin from burning. And the difference between natural sunscreen and traditional sunscreen you likely used as a kid.

When choosing a sunscreen, you want to go with a broad-spectrum sunscreen. Broad-spectrum will protect you from UVA and UVB rays.

UVA & UVB
UVA rays are what penetrate deep into your skin, all the way to the dermis, where the cells that make your youthful collagen and elastin live and directly damage them.

UVB rays are what leave you sunburnt. These reach just the top layer of the skin, the epidermis.

The best way I heard to remember it was UVA = Aging and UVB = Burning. You can thank the lovely Terri Vinson, author of skinformation, for that little tip.

Both UVA and UVB rays can cause melanoma and other skin cancers. A pretty big reason to wear sunscreen.

Natural & Regular Sunscreen
Natural sunscreen uses physical UV filters that sit on the surface of the skin. The most commonly used are zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, basically grounded up minerals—these work to protect your skin by reflecting the suns rays.

Chemical sunscreens use chemical UV filters that absorb into the skin, such as octylcrylene, avobenzone, and helioplex, which absorb sun rays into their compounds, so your skin doesn't get burned.

Chemical sunscreens are typically less thick and more transparent. Natural sunscreen creates a physical UV filter; it's designed to sit on theskin's surfacen and requires a thicker texture.

Like all sunscreens, natural sunscreen has to be reapplied regularly. Any time you itch your nose or rub your arm, you're removing the natural sunscreen from the surface of your skin and should reapply.

Chemical sunscreens have been found in the bloodstream and breastmilk hours after application as it is absorbed into the skin.

Avoid chemical sunscreens that contain oxybenzone or avobenzone as these have been shown to damage marine life.