Do you wear sunglasses to hide last night’s questionable decisions? Or do you just love how they make you look? The right pair of sunglasses can take years off your face if they cover the tell tale bits and pieces.
Most of us can wrap our heads around sunglasses for the cool kid factor. How many of us really remember they are actually an integral part of sun protection?
Just as we talked about SPF keeping us looking young, sunglasses help preserve our health, our vitality and our youthfulness.
How? I’m glad you asked!
First, they can block UVA and UVB rays that cause signs of aging, particularly in the fragile skin around our eyes. Second, they can reduce our squinting in bright light, another cause of wrinkles. Third, and most importantly if you care about eye health, the protection provided by GOOD sunglasses can preserve your vision.
The Kellogg Eye Center at the University of Michigan estimates that by age 65, 90% of people will have a cataract. I don’t want to be a downer here, but we can agree that cataracts aren’t sexy, or youthful, right? Well, UV radiation is a known cause of cataracts, and sunglasses can protect against UV. Are you seeing the math here?
Let me say, I’m not nearly as good at wearing sunglasses as I should be. I’m going to hazard a guess that at least some of you fall into this category with me. But I’m committed to be being better about it, especially after researching this topic.
How can we tell GOOD sunglasses from BAD? Well, there are five categories used for sunglasses lenses.
Are you as surprised to learn this as I was?!
| 0 | Light tint sunglasses or fashion spectacles, providing limited or no UV protection. |
| 1 | Light tint sunglasses or fashion spectacles, providing weak, limited UV protection. |
| 2 | General purpose sunglasses, providing good UV protection. |
| 3 | General purpose sunglasses, providing high sunglare protection and good UV protection. |
| 4 | These are special purpose sunglasses that provide a very high protection against extreme sun glare and good UV protection, they are not suitable for road use and driving. |
As soon as I discover this table, my very next question was…where do MY sunglasses rate? Fortunately, a little google search and I was able to uncover a rating for nearly all of my favorite shades.
Here’s a quick run down on some of my more familiar sunnies:
- Rayban Aviators (range between a 2 and 3 depending on lens color)
- Michael Kors (they buck the trend and say 100% UVA/UVB Protection. In my head I count this as a 3)
- Quay High Keys Mini (A quick chat with a Quay Australia rep reveals this style is a 2, but other styles are a 3)
- Tory Burch Aviators (sadly only a 2)
- Prada Aviators (conveniently listed on the temples, sadly a 2)
- Gucci Gradient Wrap (unknown)
The down low is (forgive me fashion gods!) there are sunnies out there that only look good but aren’t effective at keeping us healthy and youthful.
What?!
After a deep dive in my sunglass collection, I weeded out who could stay and who had to go. After all, I have no time in my pursuit of youthful vitality to mess with accessories that aren’t helping me toward my goal!
Tell me the truth, aren’t you going to pay a little more attention now as you pick your sunglasses? Make them fabulous, but make they work for you as well.
On a separate note, there will be a lot of sunnies going up for sale on my poshmark this week. 😉
