You might think using day cream is a great choice. It helps to moisturise your skin but at the same time have SPF. But did you know that moisturiser with SPF provides less protection than sunscreen? Read till the end as me, NIÅ will help to explain it. #BijakJelita

A study by Uni of Liverpool proved this fact. They used UV photography to compare effectiveness and degree of protection of sunscreen and SPF moisturiser. The darker the resulting image, the more UV rays had been blocked and the better the sun protection.

Volunteers are both using SPF 30 products and in theory, both sunscreens and moisturisers should give the same amount of protection. However the results are sunscreen > SPF moisturiser. But why?

Important to know sunscreen =/= ingredient.
Sunscreen use to form a protective film on skin against UV rays. But moisturiser works by penetrating skin to deliver nutrients and moisture. Using day cream means the product absorb into your skin = less protection than what needed.

Plus, acc to Nava Greenfield, MD, of Schweiger Dermatology Group SPF moisturiser have SPF 15/30 on the label, but amount applied will be not enough to get that much coverage, and diluted out by the moisturizer. So, instead you will only have an SPF 10- 12 in effect on your skin

Low SPF = less protection
The main issue is that most of the moisturiser with SPF only have SPF 15 - SPF35. But living in Malaysia, this is not enough. SPF 40 and above is better to protect from skin cancer, hyperpigmentation, or sunburns

To stay protected you need to use 2mg/cm2 @ ¼ tsp of sunscreens and need to reapply every 2 hours as it become ineffective. Imagine putting that much moisturiser on your face frequently

Some also tend to skip eye area when using SPF moisturiser. As they used eye cream, they will not put moisturiser on the same area again. This makes eyelid area are easily exposed to sun radiation = skin cancer, pigmentation and dark circle.

So you might be wondering, should I throw my day cream away? NOPE but you may want to change the way you use it. If you stay indoor, you can just use SPF moisturiser alone. But pair it with sunscreen if you go outside as it is the best way to protect yourself from harmful UV rays

Reference:
https://patient.info/news-and-features/does-spf-moisturiser-give-you-enough-sun-protection
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0212548
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/sunscreen-application-has-better-face-coverage-than-spf-moisturizers
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-sunscreen#1