Meet Our Sunscreen Serum: UV Filters SPF 45 Serum
It’s finally here. Totally layerable, lightweight, and white cast-free. Enter our new hydrating SPF serum: UV Filters SPF 45 Serum.
We’ve seen your comments, and we heard you loud and clear: The Ordinary needed a sunscreen! So we formulated a new broad-spectrum SPF serum, made for all faces. UV Filters SPF 45 Serum goes on like a lightweight serum, and it’s made to provide daily protection against sun damage while leaving your skin looking hydrated and luminous.
Let’s learn why daily suncare is such an important part of caring for your skin, and how we were able to create a sunscreen serum all complexions will want to wear.
Get to Know UV Filters SPF 45 Serum
UV Filters SPF 45 Serum is formulated with a hydrating ceramide blend to strengthen skin’s barrier, and help keep hydration locked in. We really wanted it to feel comfortable on your skin, so we focused on including specific hydrating ingredients and UV filters for comfort, without leaving a white cast.
Protect. Hydrate. Repeat.
Ceramides represent the majority (50%) of molecules found naturally in the skin’s lipid barrier. These fatty molecules organize themselves into multiple layers across the skin, which keep water locked in between them.
The ceramide blend in the formulation is a mix of phospholipids and sphingolipids, which both provide support to the skin barrier.
We actually use this combination of ceramides in two of our popular formulations: Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 (with Ceramides), and in Soothing & Barrier Support Serum. Both of these formulations are known for hydrating and nourishing the skin—both benefits that we wanted to bring into a sunscreen.
All About the Filters
When it comes to getting rid of the white cast that often comes with suncare—it’s all about the filters. While both chemical and mineral filters can be used in a formulation to provide UV protection, it is harder to formulate a truly transparent sunscreen with mineral filters alone. By working with a blend of FDA-approved chemical filters, we were able to formulate a lightweight, high SPF sunscreen.
Benefits of Using a Broad-Spectrum SPF Serum
Broad-spectrum protection means that a sunscreen formulation combines UV filters that can filter both UVA and UVB radiation. This helps protect your skin against the harmful UV rays that exist across the UVA/UVB spectrum.
What Does PA++++ Mean?
It means that, when dividing the time it took for UVA to darken the skin’s pigment with sunscreen, by the time it takes to achieve the same without sunscreen, the result was a number above 16. This means that skin should be able to handle at least 16 times more exposure to UVA with sunscreen than without.
Why is Broad-Spectrum Protection Important?
SPF stands for Sun Protection Factor, and it measures how much UV radiation is needed to cause a sunburn. However SPF generally only measures sunburn-causing UVB rays. So what about UVA?
Both UVA and UVB coverage is key, since both types of UV rays can affect your skin in different damaging ways. Here’s how:
UVA rays penetrate deeper into the skin, and are responsible for skin aging, specifically “photoaging,” and are associated with longer-term skin damage. UVB rays are responsible for sunburns, caused by DNA damage which leads to inflammation, and subsequent burning and peeling.
Our UV Filters SPF 45 Serum provides both UVA and UVB coverage to help protect your skin from sun damage, and in the process decreases the risk of early skin aging caused by the sun, when used as directed with other sun protection measures.
Here’s how the UVA and UVB filters we used in UV Filters SPF 45 Serum help protect your skin:
Chemical (organic) UV filters:
- UVA Filters: Avobenzone
- Absorbs UVA rays
- UVB Filters: Homosalate, Octisalate, Octocrylene
- Absorb UVB rays
How to Add UV Filters SPF 45 Serum to Your Skincare Regimen
When you think of suncare as skincare, the importance of regular sunscreen use makes a lot of sense. That’s because wearing SPF daily alongside other sun protection measures helps:
- Protects skin from sun damage
- Prevents premature skin aging (“photoaging”)
Try These Regimens with UV Filters SPF 45 Serum
Regimen building can get pretty complicated pretty quickly. So we created these sample regimens for you, depending on your skincare goals.
Everyday Regimen for Age Support
Simple Regimen for Congestion
Radiance Regimen for Brighter, More Even Skin
The Sun Never Takes a Day Off
Be sure to add SPF as the final step of your morning skincare regimen during all seasons—rain, snow or shine. Always look for broad-spectrum protection in your sunscreen, so that your skin gets both UVA and UVB coverage to help protect it from sun damage. And remember to layer benefit-packed formulations under a nourishing SPF formulation with ceramides, for healthier-looking skin.
Slather on that suncare, and make it a daily skincare habit. Your future skin will thank you.
