Last June I went to Morocco in N.Africa for 3 weeks and decided to take some strong suncream as I get burned easily. So I picked up a sun factor 100 cream, the strongest I could get here in France. But along with the usual anti-UVA and anti-UVB protection it was also anti-IR.
My question is that if I cover myself in anti-IR cream, will I feel less hot than someone who doesn’t?
I’ve never heard of anti-IR cream, but my WAG is that it’s, as you alluded to, something to cool your skin off a bit. I seriously doubt, however, that it really is anti-IR.
Wophie: My question is that if I cover myself in anti-IR cream, will I feel less hot than someone who doesn’t?
<austin-powers>Not less hot. You’ll be cool, baby!<austin-powers>
I don’t think so.
Sunscreen will eliminate the harmful rays from the sun from getting to you in large quantities, but the sun still has other radiation which you would feel as heat.
In fact, you can burn even on a cloudy day because the harmful stuff gets through. So I would assume the stuff that makes you FEEL hot is not affected by sunscreens.
Yer pal,
Satan
Anything much above SPF 45 is gilding the lily. Save your money.
All the SPF means is a rating of how long it will take you to burn, as opposed to no protection, so location is also a factor, equatorial Africa vs the Indiana, for instance.
I’ll go with Satan (don’t tell my mom that I said that, she’s old. It would kill her, I just know it). I think how you feel is much more influenced by the air temperature, humidity, wind and such than by the radiant heat from the sun. I think that’s why there are chill factors and temp/humidity indexes.
Here in north Texas, when the winds from the south with the Gulf moisture and it’s 100, it’s hot. When the wind stops, it’s even hotter. But, when a little front passes and a northerly breeze is blowing and it’s clear and dry, … well, it’s still hot, … but you know what I mean.
Anti-IR cream sounds like a load of crap to me. Infrared radiation is not high enough energy to do any significant damage to your system. The main consequence of absorbing IR radiation is that it is translated into heat.
In general the concept that the ambient air temperature and windspeed determine your subjective feeling of heat is true. However, there is definitely a significant influence due to absorption of radiant energy. I’m sure most of you have made the observation that dark/black objects get hotter in direct sunlight than light/white objects (as those of us with dark hair can attest to). This is a direct consequence of the greater absorption of radiant energy and its translation into heat.
However, smearing IR absorbing compounds on your skin is not going to have any effect. Without them, your body absorbs the IR radiation and converts it to heat. With them, the suncream absorbs the IR radiation, converts it to heat, and then transfers the heat to your body by contact.
TheDude
Anyone who bought SPF 100, would probably by IR cream too.
Hey, if I use SFP 45, surely I can stay out in the sun for X minutes before burning and with SFP 100, I can stay out twice as long?
We don’t get much sun in Ireland so I usually burn after 30 minutes on a clear, sunny day at about 22°C.
Any chance the IR cream reflects the heat instead of absorbing it, preventing transmissing to the skin?
Come to think about it,ifyou buy IR cream be sure to get some X-ray cream too. There’s plenty of natural X-rays around.
SPF over 30 is a waste of money.
SPF= sun protection factor. 30x= thirty times the natural occuring human protection. MOre than enough.
I guess it doesn’t matter 'cos all the creams from SFP 5 to 100 say “apply frequently” anyhow.