Many people may think that sunscreen and sunblock are the same. They both help protect your skin from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. But actually, there are a lot of differences between the two products.
UVA & UVB
UV refers to ultraviolet light. Ultraviolet light will affect on human skin if there’s overexposure. It damages collagen fibres of the skin by the ageing of the skin. UVA has a tanning effect exposed for some time.
UVB, on the other hand, can penetrate up to the epidermis layer, causing sunburn effects causing the skin cancer. All UV radiation is harmful; UVB has a higher risk factor than UVA because it causes direct damage.
Sunscreen products merely filter the sun’s rays, allowing some of the ultraviolet rays to go through and penetrate the skin. Sunscreen protects you from UVA rays. Sunscreen products come in liquid form.
Sunblock acts as a physical barrier between the skin and blocks the sun’s harmful rays. Sunblock contains organic and non-organic ingredients that sit on the surface of the skin to prevent the UV rays from penetrating the skin. Simply it will protect from the sunburn/ UVB rays. Sunblock products come in paste form.
In my opinion, Sunscreen can be used for daily skincare routine whereas Sunblock used when exposed to a longer period, for example in beaches.