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Come October, most people quietly retire their sunscreen to the back of a drawer and don't think about it again until Memorial Day. It's an understandable habit — the sun feels weaker, the days are shorter, and nobody comes home from a January afternoon with a sunburn. But the logic doesn't hold up, and dermatologists have been saying so for years: ultraviolet radiation is a year-round problem, and winter comes with a few risks that summer doesn't.
Here's what's actually happening to your skin in cold weather, and what a realistic winter SPF routine looks like.
The short answer: yes, you need sunscreen in winter
The American Academy of Dermatology recommends a broad-spectrum SPF 30 or higher every day, in every season. Not "on sunny days." Not "in summer." Every day. A 2024 AAD survey found that nearly one in five Americans don't realise you can get sunburned in winter at all — and even among those who do know, winter application habits fall apart quickly.
The reason isn't that winter sun is as strong as August sun. It isn't. The reason is that the specific rays responsible for ageing, pigmentation and long-term damage barely fluctuate with the seasons.
UVA rays don't take the winter off
Sunlight reaches your skin as two kinds of ultraviolet radiation, and they behave very differently.
UVB is the burning ray. It spikes in summer, peaks around midday, and is what gives you a sunburn. UVB genuinely does weaken in winter at most latitudes.
UVA is the other story. It penetrates deeper into the dermis, where collagen and elastin live, and it stays relatively constant year-round, all day long, straight through cloud cover and window glass. UVA is the ray behind photoageing: fine lines, loss of firmness, uneven tone, and the dark spots that surface years after the exposure that caused them. A grey January morning is still delivering UVA to your face, whether you feel it or not.
That's why the phrase to look for on a label is broad-spectrum — it means the formula has been tested to protect against UVA as well as UVB. Summer Face SPF 50 is a broad-spectrum invisible gelée built for exactly this kind of daily, unglamorous, year-round wear — it goes on as the last step of skincare and grips makeup rather than sliding under it.
Snow reflects up to 80% of UV rays
This is the winter-specific risk almost nobody accounts for. Fresh snow absorbs very little ultraviolet light — it reflects roughly 80% of it straight back up at you. Sand, for comparison, reflects around 15%.
So a skier, a sledding parent or someone walking the dog on a snowy trail is being hit twice: once from above, and once from the ground. That reflected light arrives at angles your face rarely sees in summer — under the chin, under the nose, along the underside of the jaw, and around the eyes. Those are the spots that burn on a ski day.
Altitude stacks on top of it
UV intensity climbs roughly 8–10% for every 1,000 metres of elevation, because there's less atmosphere overhead to filter it. A ski resort at 2,500 metres on a bluebird day can deliver more UV than a beach in July — with snow reflection layered on top of that. Cold air removes the one warning signal your skin normally gives you, which is why alpine sunburn tends to arrive as a nasty surprise at the end of the day rather than a gradual one during it.
Cold weather also weakens your skin barrier
Winter isn't only a UV story. Low humidity, indoor heating and hot showers strip lipids out of the skin barrier, leaving skin drier, tighter and more reactive. Compromised skin is more easily irritated by everything — including sunscreen, which is part of why people abandon SPF in winter in the first place.
The fix is texture, not avoidance. A gelée-format SPF melts into skin and helps seal moisture in, rather than sitting on top of it chalky and drying. That makes it considerably easier to keep wearing once the air turns.
Your winter SPF routine, realistically
- Face and neck, every morning. Broad-spectrum SPF 30 minimum, SPF 50 if you're outdoors regularly. Last step of skincare, before makeup.
- Hands. The most sun-exposed and least protected part of the body in winter. Keep something in a coat pocket.
- Ears, jawline and under the nose on snow days — reflected UV comes from below.
- Lips. Thin skin, very little melanin, and already chapped from cold air. An SPF lip balm matters more in February than in August.
- Reapply every two hours if you're outside — skiing, hiking, shovelling, or standing on a touchline.
And if you're chasing summer somewhere warm
Winter is peak season for tropical travel, and skin arriving from three months of grey is the least UV-adapted it will be all year. A December week in the Caribbean will burn you faster than the same week in August would.
Pack real body protection: Summer Gelée SPF 30 is broad-spectrum and water-resistant for 80 minutes, which covers swimming and sweat. If you're after colour on a short, deliberate sun session, Summer Gelée SPF 4 is a tan accelerator rather than a sunscreen — treat it as such, and don't ask it to carry an all-day beach. The Summer Duo pairs both tubes for precisely that reason.
The bottom line
Winter UV rarely burns you, which is exactly why it's easy to ignore — and exactly why it accumulates. UVA is steady year-round, snow can double your exposure, and altitude amplifies it further. Keeping a broad-spectrum SPF in your morning routine through the cold months is one of the lowest-effort, highest-return things you can do for your skin.
The sun doesn't check the calendar. Neither should your sunscreen.
This article is for general information and isn't medical advice. If you have a specific skin concern, speak to a dermatologist.
