A viewer recently asked, “Do you need to remove your sunscreen at the end of the day?”
What a surprisingly interesting question!
So by a show of hands, who believes you should remove your sunscreen at the end of the day?
OK… I see most of you with your hands up.
Excellent!
But of course, this is a trick question because while the answer is “yes,” it may not be for the reason you think.
You’ve heard me tell you relentlessly about the virtues of applying sunscreen, but I’ve never discussed removing it.
The reality is that while after a few hours your sunscreen may lose its sun protective ability, it most likely hasn’t completely come off. So the reason you need to remove your sunscreen at the end of the day is simply because at the end of the day before you apply your night time products like exfoliants, antioxidants, moisturizers and so on… before you put them on… you need to prep your skin for them… meaning, using cleanser and toner to remove all prior products so your skin is clean with no impediments to the action and absorption of your night time products.
So it’s not that you can’t have sunscreen on at night… It’s just that everything from the day needs to be removed before applying your bedtime products.
In fact, many of you know how I love combination products, especially moisturizing sunscreens. So, if you use a moisturizer at bedtime, and a combination sunscreen/moisturizer during the day because you like its feel as a moisturizer, there’s nothing wrong with using it as your moisturizer at bed time as well. The sunscreen active ingredients are of course harmless at night and it saves you from buying an extra non-sunscreen moisturizer!
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