SPF stands for Sun Protection Factor and represents the sunscreen’s ability to protect your skin from the sun’s rays in addition to your skin’s natural protection. Depending on your skin type, hair colour, eye colour and location, you may be able to stay in the sun for 10 minutes without burning.
If you apply a sunscreen with SPF30 this means that you can stay in the sun 30 times longer than you could without sunscreen. However, you must use sunscreen as directed and ensure enough sunscreen is initially applied (35ml) for maximum coverage. Higher factors should not be used to increase your time in the sun, but to increase your level of protection.

Sunscreens leave a protective layer on your skin, which can be washed off by water. A sunscreen that is water-resistant stays on your skin for longer than normal. However, it will still be washed away eventually. To be safe, reapply if you spend more than forty minutes in the water. If you dry yourself with a towel or take a shower – anything that involves rubbing your skin – you should also reapply immediately. You will need to dry your skin before reapplying sunscreen, unless you’re using our Calypso Dry Oil Wet Skin Spray. This can be applied on both wet and dry skin.

There are two types of ultraviolet radiation which can harm our skin – UVA and UVB. Only UVB causes burning, but both types damage our skin, so good sunscreens should protect against both. However, SPF only measures UVB protection, so you have to check to make sure your sunscreen offers UVA protection too. There are lots of different UVA measuring systems around the world. We use the European standard – look for the letters UVA inside a circle. This symbol means that a product meets the EU-recommended level of UVA protection.