Does Sunscreen Really Prevent Wrinkles? Yes, It Does

You've seen the advice on every skincare list going: wear sunscreen. And if you're anything like I was, a small honest part of you wonders — does it really do anything for wrinkles, or is that just a line the beauty world loves to repeat?

Fair question. So let me answer it the way I'd want a friend to answer me: yes. Genuinely, properly yes. Of all the anti-ageing steps you could take — the serums, the creams, the facials — daily sun protection is the one with the most solid evidence behind it, and it's the one thing on that list you actually control. Let me explain why in plain language, so it makes sense rather than just sounding like another rule.

Most of the ageing we blame on age is actually the sun

Here's the part that surprised me. When skin experts look at the lines, the sagging and the uneven patches we think of as simply "getting older," a large share of it isn't really the years — it's sun exposure quietly adding up over a lifetime. The figure you'll often hear is that up to 80% of visible ageing on the face comes down to UV. Not genetics, not birthdays. The sun.

You can see it for yourself. Look at the skin on the inside of your upper arm — the bit that rarely sees daylight. It's usually softer, smoother and more even than the skin on your face and hands. Same age, same body, completely different skin. The difference is sunlight.

UVB burns, UVA ages — and UVA doesn't take days off

This is the bit nobody explains, and it changed how I think about sunscreen for good.

Sunlight reaches us as two kinds of rays. UVB is the one that burns — the beach-holiday, gone-pink-on-the-nose ray. It's strongest in summer and around midday. UVA is the quieter one, and it's the ageing ray. It goes deeper into the skin, right down to where your collagen and elastin live — the springy scaffolding that keeps skin firm and bouncy. UVA breaks those fibres down bit by bit, and over the years that shows up as fine lines, crepey texture, sagging and brown spots.

And here's the catch: UVA barely changes with the seasons. It stays fairly steady all year, morning to evening. It slips through cloud. It passes straight through glass — your office window, your kitchen window, the side window of the car on the school run. So even on a grey winter's day, even when you never plan to be "in the sun," that ageing ray is quietly at work. This is a big part of why lines can seem to arrive faster than we expect — I've written more about that in why wrinkles appear faster after 40.

Living in South Africa, this matters more, not less

We're a sunny country, and mostly that's a joy. But it does mean our skin takes a bigger daily dose of UV than skin in cooler, cloudier places. Our UV index runs high for much of the year, the Highveld sits at altitude where the sun feels that bit sharper, and our skies are often clear and bright. Add our get-outside way of life and it all adds up.

None of that is a reason to hide indoors. It's simply a reason to make sun protection a normal daily habit rather than a summer-holiday thing — the same way you'd never dream of skipping it on your children.

"But it's winter" — and the other reasons we skip it

The most common thing I hear is exactly that: it's winter, surely I don't need it now? But since UVA hardly dips in the cooler months, winter is precisely when quiet, everyday protection keeps paying off. The same goes for cloudy days, and for days spent mostly inside near a window.

The other reason we skip it is simple honesty: sunscreen used to feel thick, greasy and like one more faff in an already-rushed morning. The good news is that a modern day cream with SPF built in solves that — more on that in a moment.

The free part: how to actually protect your skin

You don't need to spend a cent extra to start doing this well. The habits matter as much as the product:

• Make it every single morning, all year. Consistency beats intensity. A little protection every day does far more than a lot now and then.
• Use enough. Most of us apply too little. Be generous across your whole face, and don't stop at the jaw — your neck and chest show ageing early.
• Look for "broad-spectrum". Those words mean it guards against the ageing UVA rays, not only the burning ones.
• Don't forget the odd bits. The backs of your hands, your ears, and that V at your neckline.
• Top up if you're out for hours. Gardening, a day at the sport, a long drive — reapply through the day.
• Let clothes and shade help. A wide hat, sunglasses and staying out of the fierce midday sun all take the load off your skin, for free.

Protecting the collagen you already have is so much easier than trying to rebuild it later — and if you've been noticing your skin feels a little less firm lately, it's worth knowing the signs your skin is losing collagen so you can act early.

Making the daytime step feel effortless

Here's where the right product quietly does the heavy lifting. If sunscreen feels like an extra chore, you'll skip it — so the trick is to fold it into the moisturiser you're already using.

That's exactly what the CRT Anti-Wrinkle Plumping Day Cream SPF 25 is made for. It's your morning moisturise-and-protect step in one: it hydrates and helps soften the look of fine lines, while the SPF 25 shields your skin from that daily UV — so you're caring for your skin and defending it in a single easy step, no extra bottle, no greasy layer. A pea-sized amount covers your whole face and neck, which means one tube lasts and lasts. Smooth it on after cleansing and toning, and your daytime routine is done.

It really is the small daily habit that, over the years, does more for your skin than almost anything else on the shelf.

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