Are you looking forward to the bank holiday weekend? We’ll have an extra 2 days to play with and I know that some of you will be heading overseas for a mini-break whilst others are hoping the weather will be nice enough on home turf to soak up a few rays.

If you’ll be spending the extended weekend outside, no matter how hot it may or may not be, add some sun protection to your skincare routine.

The SPF of a sunscreen is a laboratory measure of the effectiveness of sunscreen. The higher the SPF, the more protection a sunscreen offers against UVB rays (the ultraviolet radiation that causes sun burn). The SPF indicates the time a person with sunscreen applied can be exposed to sunlight before getting sunburn relative to the time a person without sunscreen can be exposed. For example, someone who would burn after 12 minutes in the sun could expect to burn after 120 minutes if protected by a sunscreen with SPF 10.

The protection offered by SPF depends on variable factors like the skin type of a person, the amount of sun lotion applied and how often, activities undertaken (for example swimming which results in a loss of sun lotion) and the amount of sun lotion the skin has absorbed.

Good sun screens will also protect against UVA rays, which do not cause reddening or pain but do cause a great deal of skin damage and are highly responsible for premature aging.

When buying sun screen, check the star rating. Three stars is good, whilst five stars is the best rating. Try to make sure you at least buy 3 star sun lotions.