Donna Queen
AND THE AWARD GOES TO …
Surely you tuned into the 82nd Annual Academy Awards last night and watched Monique, Sandra Bullock, Kathryn Bigelow and the others accept their little gold men. Well, today we’re giving out an entirely different kind of award.
Consider these the ZO Skin Health awards for best performing pores, skin tone and elasticity on the red carpet. Without further ado, we’d like to present the Best Skin at the Oscars.
Best Performance by Fair Skin:
Let’s face it. The fairest of them all have a bigger battle against sun damage. That’s why we tip our hat to Tina Fey for keeping her face, neck and chest, well, much better than just fair.
Get the look: Oclipse Sunscreen + Primer SPF 30
Best Shine Control:
We’ll let you decide whether or not she shines on stage, but teenager Miley Cyrus’ oily skin often has her shining on the red carpet. And not in a good way. But, not this time around. Kudos for keeping the shine in check, Miley.
Get the look: Offects TE-Pads Acne Pore Treatment
Best Overall Elasticity:
We give this award to the cougar with the loudest meow. Just look at Demi Moore’s arms. If that’s not stellar acting — 40 something arms acting like 20 something arms — than we don’t know what is.
Get the look: Oraser Body Emulsion
Lifetime Achievement for Best Skin:
It takes guts for any woman to sport a plunging neckline. But for a 60-year-old woman to do it? It takes magic. Or one powerful skincare regime. Bravo to Meryl Streep whose flawless skin over the years is the only performance for which she hasn’t been recognized.
Get the look: Ossential Daily Power Defense
Did we leave anyone out? Let us hear whose skin wowed YOU at the Oscars.
Dr. Zein Obagi
The SPF Numbers Game
The speedometer on my car goes to 160 mph. I’ve never actually driven that fast; I don’t know if the car actually goes that fast either. It’s a moot point, really. There’s so much traffic on the freeways in California that we’re happy to drive 65 mph, and that’s on a good day.
Having a speedometer that goes to 160 mph is just a numbers game. So let’s face the facts.
Skin care companies are trying to race each other in the SPF (sun protection factor) game, and it’s just a numbers game. In 2008, Coppertone came out with an SPF of 70. Neutrogena showed them up with Ultra Sheer Dry Touch, with SPF 85. Now Banana Boat is me-too’ing them with an SPF 85 spray. But Neutrogena is one-upping them again with an SPF 100 sunblock.
Consumers need to get smart. In this case, more is not necessarily better.
Contrary to what may seem to be conventional logic, an SPF 100 doesn’t offer twice the protection of an SPF 50. SPF protection does not increase proportionally with an increased SPF number. For example,
Therefore, an SPF 100 only gives you 1% more protection than an SPF 50. Not a heck of a lot. I’m not a proponent of sunscreens with SPF greater than 30 or 35 or 40, and here’s why:
- Ultra-high SPFs give people a false sense of security. Like they offer “all day protection”, which they don’t. Or they’re “waterproof”. Baloney. They get sweated-off and rubbed off. When you’re outdoors, sunscreens can and should be reapplied. A higher SPF does not necessarily mean better sun protection.
- In order to get that extra protection, manufacturers need to add more chemicals— like oxybenzone, sulisobenzone and Parsol 1789 (aka avobenzone). Unless you’re a major stock- holder in Dow Chemical, don’t use more chemicals than necessary. Your skin doesn’t need it.
- What’s more important than the SPF number, is the amount of sunscreen that is applied. Use a full shot glass for your body, which is about 1 oz. Slather it all over. If you’re in the sun during mid-day, reapply every hour or two.
- No one needs an SPF 100 unless they don’t plan on taking a shower for the next week. An SPF100 means that you could stay in the sun for 100 hours longer than you can without sunscreen, without burning. Assuming that it takes about an hour to burn—exactly why would anyone stay in the sun for 100 hours? Given that there’s about 12 hours of sunlight a day, that’s more than 8 days, without showering. Now, really.
- The problem is not the SPF factor, the problem is that most people don’t wear sunscreen at all! In fact, one third of all Americans don’t. Watch this. (segment from from ABC News) http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=13589779&ch=4226723&src=news.
Moral of the story: Use a sunscreen that you like, that is effective, and reapply it frequently.
Enjoy the summer with friends and family. And please wear sunscreen.
Zein Obagi, MD
