Liz Earle

Now, you will often hear that everyone should use an SPF in their daily moisturiser every day.

Well, I don't agree.

I take a much more nuanced stroke educated approach, I would like to say.

And I think there are different reasons for this, which I will explain.

Firstly, I think it's important to say that the level of SPF that you get in a moisturiser applied before breakfast is not likely to be enough to cover your skin with a defence if you're spending time in, say, the strong midday sunshine.

Just because you put it on in the morning in a moisturiser, so the level is already low.

It's worn off.

It's just not there.

It's not giving you the protection.

And I think you might be lulled into a false sense of security of going out into strong sunshine and think, oh, it's fine.

You know, at quarter to seven this morning, I put a little dab on in my moisturizer and it's fine.

And actually, it's not giving you the SPF that you might think.

I think if you're going to be out in the sun for a prolonged period, say during a holiday or in the high summer, much more sensible to use a separate properly applied sunscreen and reapply it as you need.

Secondly, and this is more fundamental, I think,

and I discuss this at length in my book, How to Age, a little early morning natural light on bare skin can actually have benefits for skin biology.

And this is because morning light exposure onto the skin helps stimulate the skin's mitochondria and fibroblasts.

And these are the deeper dermal cells that are responsible for collagen production.

And it helps to prime the skin for repair and regeneration.

So you're setting up a circadian rhythm within the skin.

So the skin is very clever.