A product’s sun protection factor (SPF) indicates its ability to protect the skin from the sun’s harmful rays. The SPF of a product may range from 2 to 60. It is an indicator of the amount of time the skin should be exposed to the sun before it gets damaged or sun burned. Different skin types have different levels of natural protection from the sun. People with fairer complexions need a higher SPF than those with dark complexions.

To illustrate how SPF works, take for example a person whose skin gets sun burned after 5 minutes of sun exposure. If a lotion with SPF 2 is used, multiply 5 by 2, giving you 10 – it means with this lotion, the person can stay out in the sun for 10 minutes without being sunburned. So if the same person uses a lotion with SPF 15, 5 times 15 gives you 75 minutes, or more than one hour of sun protection.