InfraGuard: What It Is & Why You Want It In Your Sunscreen

Sun protection is one of the most important aspects of everyone’s skin care practices. But what ingredients are essential in enhancing the benefits your sunscreen offers?

InfraGuard is a cutting-edge skincare ingredient that protects against damaging infrared radiation (IR). Read on to learn more about this product and how to harness its powers to protect your skin.

• What Is InfraGuard?
• What Is Infrared Radiation (IR)?
• Skincare Benefits of InfraGuard
• What Types of Skincare Include InfraGuard As An Ingredient?
• Our Sunscreen Recommendations
• Tips for Protecting Your Skin Against IR & UV Rays

What Is InfraGuard?

InfraGuard is a premium beauty ingredient designed to protect skin from the aging effects of infrared radiation.

InfraGuard gets its capabilities from two key ingredients: organic sunflower sprouts and tara tannins.

• Organic sunflower sprouts: Sunflower sprouts are lauded as the plant with the highest concentration of phytonutrients. They contain antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, and cardiovascular benefits.
• Tara tannins: Tara tannins come from a fruiting tree native to Peru. Its fruits contain hydrosoluble tannins with antioxidant properties.

How Does InfraGuard Work?

To understand how InfraGuard works, it’s first essential to understand a type of atom known as a free radical. If you’ve spent any time reading about skincare, you’ve likely heard of free radicals. These are a specific type of molecule that can cause damage to your cells.

When we come into contact with too many free radicals, our cells can enter a process called oxidative stress, which can cause lasting damage to our skin and increase signs of aging. While our bodies produce some antioxidants to fight free radicals, they sometimes can’t keep up. We can look to outside ingredients to boost our antioxidants in these cases.

One such ingredient is InfraGuard, which can neutralize free radicals.

What Is Infrared Radiation (IR)?

Infrared radiation is another term commonly discussed in skincare. The term infrared may channel images of red lasers, but infrared light is much more common than that. 

Infrared light is a part of the magnetic spectrum. The human eye cannot see infrared light, but you interact with it daily in another way: heat. 

If you’ve ever encountered thermal imaging, you’re more familiar with infrared light than you may think. These images range from purple to red, depending on the levels of infrared light they emit. The warmest and most infrared light-emitting areas glow red, whereas the coolest areas with the least infrared light glow purple.

Our main exposure to infrared radiation comes from the sun. We’re exposed to infrared rays on a daily basis; the higher the UV index, the greater exposure we experience.

How Does Infrared Radiation Impact Your Skin?

Why does this all matter? Infrared radiation has significant impacts on your skin, including:

• Collagen and elastin degradation: Exposure to infrared radiation can increase the body’s production of Matrix metalloproteinase-1, an enzyme that breaks down collagen. 
• Oxidation: Infrared radiation can increase free radicals, which can cause oxidative stress
• Skin aging: Oxidative stress brought on by infrared radiation damages cells and increases the appearance of aging in the skin, like face lines and wrinkles. 
• DNA damage: When skin is exposed to infrared radiation, its temperature increases significantly, triggering inflammation and damaging DNA.

Skincare Benefits of InfraGuard

InfraGuard offers significant benefits as a skincare ingredient. Of course, its main benefit is to provide protection against infrared radiation damage. But it also has strong antioxidant properties to help skin fight against oxidative stress.

What Types of Skincare Include InfraGuard As An Ingredient?

Due to its strong protective and antioxidative properties in the face of infrared light, InfraGuard is a go-to ingredient in sunscreen. Not only can adding InfraGuard to sunscreens help prevent wrinkles, but it can also help protect against lasting DNA damage from the sun.

Our Sunscreen Recommendations

To unlock the power of InfraGuard, consider adding one of these sunscreens to your daily routine.

Sunforgettable® Total Protection® Face Shield Flex SPF 50

Sunforgettable® Total Protection® Face Shield Flex SPF 50 is a lightweight mineral sunscreen that combines sun protection with tinted color coverage for an even skin tone and flawless appearance.

It’s rich in antioxidants, thanks to our patented EnviroScreen® Technology. Plus, its FLEX iron oxide pigments bloom in your fingertips for buildable coverage with a semi-matte finish that also provides defense against blue (HEV) light. This hydrating and antioxidant-rich formula is free of parabens, sulfates, phthalates, oils, dyes, and fragrances. 

If you prefer a custom look, our complete Total Protection® Face Shield SPF 50 collection offers a natural Glow, Bronze, Matte, or untinted ‘Classic’ options in addition to FLEX to best suit your sunscreen needs.

Total Protection® No-Show™ Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50

For a highly protective sunscreen that looks and feels like nothing, explore Total Protection® No-Show™ Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50. This mineral sunscreen blends invisibly into your skin, leaving you perfectly hydrated and velvety soft—while staying fully protected against the sun’s rays.

Its advanced non-nano zinc oxide formula offers high-performance protection without the white cast commonly left behind by other zinc formulations. Plus, soothing bisabolol and hydrating silver ear mushroom extract improve your skin’s appearance from the inside out, leaving you with skin that simply looks like skin.

Sunforgettable® Total Protection® Brush-On Shield SPF 50

If the sensation of liquid sunscreens isn’t your thing, discover Sunforgettable® Total Protection® Brush-On Shield SPF 50. We’re proud to offer the only powder sunscreen The Skin Cancer Foundation recommends for active use. This brush-on formulation provides 50 SPF, is water- and sweat-resistant for up to 80 minutes, and offers the protection of InfraGuard. This dry formulation also makes it a great sunscreen for travel. 

An infusion of hyaluronic acid offers moisture replenishment and, of course, InfraGuard offers infrared radiation while powerful iron oxides provide blue (HEV) light protection. Shop a range of dermatologist recommended, tinted formulations, or opt for our Sheer Matte SPF 30 Sunscreen Brush.

Tips for Protecting Your Skin Against IR & UV Rays

For optimum protection against infrared radiation and UV rays, follow these tips:

• Wear sunscreen daily, no matter the weather or how much time you plan to spend outdoors. Damaging rays can come in through your windows and even from your computer and TV, so skin protection is a must, everyday.
• Reapply every two hours when spending time outdoors. Once a day simply isn’t enough if you’re getting a lot of sun exposure. If you’re swimming or sweating, it’s recommended that you apply even more frequently–every 40 minutes–to prevent sunburn and skin damage. 
• Choose a broad-spectrum sunscreen to protect your skin from both UVA and UVB rays. Any broad-spectrum sunscreen that meets FDA requirements will be labeled as such.
• Apply sunscreen evenly and liberally to your face, neck, and ears. Be sure to get the backs of your ears and neck, too. These are often the areas with the most sun exposure.
• Don’t rely on sunscreen alone to protect your skin from the sun. Use good sun protection practices like staying out of the sun in peak hours, wearing a protective hat to shade your face, and protect your eyes with UV-protective sunglasses, too.

Keep Your Skin Looking Healthy & Youthful

For healthy, youthful skin, sun protection is a must. To harness the power of InfraGuard, shop our Sunforgettable® Total Protection® collection of mineral sunscreens from Colorescience. Our unique formulations offer optimal protection against UV rays, infrared radiation, and harmful blue light.