Can Sun Rays Through the Window Really Damage Your Skin?

Ultraviolet (UV) Rays

A question that many people never thought about is whether or not UV rays from the sun passing through a glass window can be harmful to the skin. For example, if you’re sitting by a window feeling the sun on your skin – will you get sunburn or other skin damage? Are you really in danger?

The unfortunate answer is yes – to at least some degree, you can experience sun damage through glass windows.

Glass windows block a particular wavelength of light known as “UVB” while allowing “UVA” to come through. UVB is the ‘shorter wavelength’ of light and is the main responsible for sunburn and skin cancer. So that’s good news – if you sit by a window at work, then you probably won’t get a sunburn.

To some extent, UVB does make it through the glass window but not enough to make it through the epidermis. This can still cause damage, but nothing near the potential amount of damage that you might experience when you to sit in direct sunlight.

UVA rays, on the other hand, are the longer wavelengths, which can pass through the glass and can also cause skin problems. This is the same type of light that is used in tanning beds. It is also known to penetrate the deeper levels of the skin through the epidermis and to the dermis.

Compared with UVB, UVA is worse when it comes to aging your skin. It is evidenced by the looks of the people who have spent their whole lives driving a truck or working in an office with a window on one side. They looked considerably older on the side exposed to sunlight through the window than on the other side.

Wearing Sunblock

Wearing non-organic sunblock throughout the day – even indoors – is unfortunately NOT the solution. The problem with that is it damages your skin (and your general health) in several ways due to harmful ingredients contained in it.

Did you know that products you apply to your skin get absorbed into your bloodstream? That means that you should never use a product to your skin that you won’t be glad to eat!

Wearing these products throughout the day is out of the question. And that is why using organic sunblock is such an important strategy to achieve organic beauty!

Images courtesy of:
ilonitta, Freepik, freepic.diller

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