Sunscreen vs Sunblock

The rise of greenhouse gases being emitted into the atmosphere has caused the thinning of the ozone layer, with some of its areas now being seen to have holes in them. For that reason, it is more important than ever to protect your skin from the sun’s harmful rays because apart from drying your skin and giving you painful sunburns, prolonged exposure to the sun’s harmful rays can cause premature aging, dark spots and even skin cancer. It is no wonder why sunscreen and sunblock products have become more in demand now than ever before.

Many people may think that sunscreen and sunblock are one and the same. After all, they both help protect your skin from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. But actually, there are a lot of differences between the two products. For one, sunscreen products merely filter the sun’s rays, allowing some of the ultraviolet rays to go through and penetrate the skin. Examples of this are oils and creams used by men and women while they are sunbathing in order to get a golden tan on their skin while spending their time on the beach.

On the other hand, sunblock products, as the name suggests, blocks all of the sun’s harmful rays to penetrate through the skin. As such, these are often used by men and women who have extremely sensitive skin who may experience rashes when spending long periods under the sun.

Another difference between sunscreen and sunblock is their consistency. Sunblock products are thicker as compared to sunscreen products. This is partly due to the zinc oxide that is incorporated in sunblock products. This is why sunblock products often come in paste form. Sunscreen products, on the other hand, tend to be more liquid in its consistency, making it a lot easier to spread on the skin as compared to sunblock products.

Sunscreen products are a lot easier to be washed off by water, and even by your sweat. The Sun Protection Factor, more commonly known as SPF, gives you an idea on how effective the sunscreen product would be able to filter the sun’s rays on your skin. On the other hand, sunblock products are a lot harder to wash off from your skin. You can swim for long periods of time on the beach and still have the sunblock on your skin. This is why athletes that compete in beach sporting events would prefer using sunblock because they do not need to keep on re-applying this throughout the entire time that they are exposed to the sun’s harmful rays.

Summary:
1.Sunscreen filters out certain sun rays, blocking off some while allowing others to penetrate your skin. Sunblock products completely block off all of the sun’s rays.
2.Sunscreen products come in liquid form. Sunblock products come in paste form.
3.Sunscreen products are water soluble while sunblock products tend to be water-resistant, making it difficult to wash off.