Sunscreens

Getting sunscreen right

A brightening serum used without daily sunscreen is close to pointless. You are lightening pigment at one rate and generating it at another. Sunscreen is not the step that makes skin glow; it is the step that stops everything else being undone.

India holds a high UV index across most of the year, through the monsoon included. UVA also passes through window glass, so an indoor day beside a window still needs protection. Look for a PA rating alongside the SPF: SPF measures UVB, and PA measures the UVA that drives pigmentation and collagen loss.

Two finger lengths covers the face and neck. Almost everyone under-applies by half, which turns SPF 50 into roughly SPF 15 in practice. Apply 15 minutes before going out, reapply every three to four hours outdoors, and cover the ears, hairline and sides of the neck.