Hello everyone! Hope you had a wonderful time ushering in the new year! 2012 started out extremely well for me but I’ve also been very preoccupied during the past few days due to the celebrations. So very quickly today, I want to answer a question posed by a reader via email, who is wondering why she is still getting freckles and sun spots on her face when she has been using sunscreen diligently. Well, this is a rather common concern and the problem may not necessarily lie with your sunscreen assuming it offers broad spectrum protection with ample protective active ingredients, and you’re applying it in sufficient amount. So what could be the culprit?

It’s kind of a shame that many sunscreens in the market contain alcohol in their base ingredient and I’m referring to alcohol denat, SD alcohol, ethyl alcohol, ethanol, or isopropyl alcohol. It is widely known that such alcohols can break down and disturb the skin’s natural acid mantle, causing irritation, dryness and possibly generating free radicals leading to skin damage. But does this also means that it causes our skin to be more vulnerable to UV radiation?