Whilst sun exposure can be good for our bodies in countless ways, it can also cause burns and long-term damage to our skin and cells if we don't protect ourselves properly before going out in the sun. You should always be extremely careful and protect your skin by applying a broad-spectrum sun cream, like the sun protection products offered by Biotherm: the Waterlover SPF 30 and Waterlover SPF 50 sun milks.

How does sun cream work? Sun cream uses chemical and physical filters to do its job. For those wondering how sun cream provides adequate protection, it can be explained as follows: physical filters make the rules, intervening in a mechanical way to reflect and disperse UV rays, whilst chemical filters absorb the energy of solar radiation. When choosing a sun protection product, you should consider the quality and degree of protection offered, and the characteristics of the solar filter.

How to choose the appropriate protection

When choosing a sun cream, the most important thing to take into account is the sun protection factor (SPF), which ranges from 6 and 10 for low protection, 15, 20 and 25 for medium protection, 30 and 50 for high protection and 50+ for very high protection. There are a number of crucial factors to think about when considering SPF, including the weather, the amount of time spent in the sun and above all the skin's phototype.

But your choice of SPF should not be based exclusively on phototype. It is essential to keep a number of other important elements in mind, including age, exposure time, season, the time of year and the altitude of where you are. The SPF (i.e. the sun protection factor against UVB rays) should be clearly visible and legible on the product's packaging.

Furthermore, Biotherm's Waterlover SPF 30 and Waterlover SPF 50 sun milks have the NORDIC SWAN ECOLABEL, one of the strictest certifications recognised by countries in northern Europe. The NORDIC SWAN ECOLABEL considers not only the formula of the product but its packaging too. As a matter of fact, the Waterlover SPF 30 and Waterlover SPF 50 sun milk formulas are 97%* biodegradable and their plastic bottles are 100%** recycled.

*without filters - 74% (SPF 50) and 77% (SPF 30) biodegradable formulas with filters according to the OECD 301 test or ISO equivalent
**excluding pigments and dispenser