Dry skin may be a type of skin, but may also occur in people with other types of skin, if exposed to certain factors. Dry skin can be treated with sunscreen, but it must contain certain ingredients. In addition, sunscreen will protect against the damaging effects of the ultraviolet rays, which may cause skin dryness.
How Sunscreen Helps
Dry skin can be treated by moisturizing the skin both from the inside and the outside. A sunscreen may replace a skin moisturizer, provided it contains the necessary ingredients to hydrate the skin. A lot of commercial products have the ingredients to keep the skin hydrated.
Sunscreen Ingredients for Dry Skin
In order to protect the skin and help reduce skin dryness, the sunscreen must contain a number of ingredients such as:
- Titanium oxides
- Microfine zinc
These ingredients filter the UVA rays, which are responsible for the formation of wrinkles and drying the skin. UVB rays are also filtered and this results in protection against skin cancer.
The SPF of the sunscreen may also be important. Choose an SPF of at least 15, which will filter over 90% of the UVA and UVB rays. If your skin is lighter and tends to be dry, get a higher protection factor of 25 or 30, which will filter over 95% of the sun rays.
Other natural ingredients which can soften the skin are also effective to reduce dry skin. Look for products that contain aloe vera extracts or essential oils extracted from:
- Rosewoods
- Sandalwood
- Peach kernel
