SPF + Green Tea for Skin

I screen, you screen, we all scream for sunscreen!

Also known as National Sunscreen Day or ‘Don’t Fry Day’, May 27th promotes awareness and education about the importance of wearing sunscreen, to protect you from the sun’s harmful UV rays.

With summer around the corner, it’s more key than ever to choose the right sunblock if you’re spending time outdoors. That’s why we love pairing our SPF with the skin superstar, green tea – or tomato lycopene – to protect against the sun’s damaging rays both to you and your skin.

In support of National Sunscreen Day and to prepare for summer, we’re sharing the benefits of SPF and green tea for skin. We’ll also outline how certain ingredients can multitask to support both preventative skin health, and effective treatment for past sun damage.

Before we dive into the powerful benefits of SPF and green tea for skin, let’s look a little closer at National Sunscreen Day. While it’s been ingrained into our minds to use sunscreen every day, we still need little reminders to stay on the ball!

Don’t Fry Day falls perfectly before the official kick-off to summer, as a reminder to protect your skin from the rising temps and being outdoors more often. This day also educates on the benefits of sun protection, and the risks of overexposure to your skin and health.

Get familiar with the 4 major reasons why everyone should wear sunscreen below!

Reduces Risk of Cancer
Sunscreen helps protect you from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays – even on cloudy days. While nobody is exempt, certain skin types and characteristics can put you at a greater risk for skin cancer.

Minimizes Skin Disorders
Sunscreen decreases the penetration of UV rays into the skin, therefore preventing a variety of skin disorders ranging from sun allergies (photosensitivity) to increased acne.

Age Defense
Sunscreen helps block the sun’s harmful effects of skin-aging UVA rays. These are the leading cause of discoloration and dark spots, sagging or leathery skin, and fine lines and wrinkles.

Healthy Skin and Tone
Sunscreen helps prevent discoloration and dark spots from sun damage, helping you maintain a smoother and more even skin tone.

Green tea pairs perfectly with SPF, to create a complexion game changer and treatment for sun-damaged skin. Green tea has many protective nutrients that can minimize free radical damage and other environmental stressors, while mitigating the appearance of sun damage on skin.

Check out the top sun repairing and free radical-fighting abilities of green tea:

1. Antioxidants
Green tea’s antioxidant-rich ingredients are key to its skin protective and cell regenerative properties. Antioxidants serve to protect the body from harmful free radicals found in our everyday environment. Antioxidants bind to free radicals, neutralizing them before they can cause harm.

2. Reduce inflammation
Green tea is chock full of catechins, which are a type of polyphenol. Polyphenols are potent antioxidants that help reduce inflammation, prevent oxidative stress, and will also help reduce acne flare-ups. The catechins in green tea reduce irritation, redness, and swelling.

PRO TIP: Green tea leaves produce more catechins than any other plant!

3. Reduce cellular damage
The most abundant antioxidant in green tea is EGCG. Research has shown that EGCG can reduce cellular damage due to free radicals, and can also help to promote healthy cellular life-cycles. EGCG has also been linked to reducing the risk of skin cancer – big news for those concerned about skin health and sun damage.

4. Vitamins
There are more benefits of green tea for skin than just antioxidants; it also contains vitamin C, which can help protect your skin against free radicals. Green tea contains vitamin E, which hydrates cracked or dry skin – common symptoms associated with sun exposure.

5. Minerals
This superstar ingredient also contains beneficial minerals like potassium, magnesium, calcium, and zinc. These assist in maintaining skin balance to create a steady, radiant glow – all of which prolonged exposure to the sun can steal!

If you’re looking to do wonders for your health, you may want to load your lunch salad up with tomatoes. These juicy red beauties are full of the antioxidant lycopene, which has been linked to a reduction in DNA damage from extended UV exposure.

Tomatoes also contain high-powered nutrients like beta-carotene (which becomes vitamin A when consumed), vitamins E and C, and potassium.

Don’t turn red from a sunburn, when you could eat red instead! Here are the top sun repairing and free radical-fighting abilities of tomato lycopene:

1. Antioxidants
Antioxidant-rich lycopene is key to the skin protective and cell regenerative properties of tomatoes. Antioxidants serve to protect the body from harmful free radicals found in our everyday environment. Smog, pollution, radiation, smoke, and other environmental toxins generate damaging free radicals that have a direct effect on your skin.

2. Vitamins
Tomatoes are a potent source of vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, potassium, and folate. This high percentage of nutrients makes tomatoes very good for your skin, restoring glow and vibrance to the skin. We lyco-the sound of that!

3. Anti-aging
Skin beneficial lycopene increases levels of procollagen, a molecule which gives skin its firm, youthful structure. Lycopene can also turn back the clock and can help prevent skin discoloration, fine lines and wrinkles, and changes in skin texture.

As we know, sunscreen is one of the easiest and most accessible ways to protect our skin – and health – from the sun’s harmful rays. Making sun protection a daily habit will help you enjoy the outdoors safely, avoid overexposure, and help lower your risks of health concerns and certain cancers.

By pairing the superhero ingredients green – or tomato lycopene – with SPF, you’ll be well on your way to healthy, glowing skin. Now get out and celebrate with your SPF!