Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen!

[Emer]

Miss Bella Hell, I balked at the price too! I just bought sunscreen for $8 and thought that was a bit much! lol I always rely on my staples like Banana Boat SPF 50. My skin usually drinks it up since I tend be dry, and I use a small dollop mixed in with my foundation (which also has sunscren in it, but only like SPF 15). I'm just simple I guess. I like drugstore sunscreen.

 

[Lillemor]

My dermatologist ordered me last Spring to buy and use the highest SPF I can find from the beginning of Spring and even use it on the unexposed parts or the exposed parts will be more prone to hyperpigmentation spots and blotches. I'm not sure I understand the logic in that.:eusa_doh: I'm sun oversensitive despite not being fair.

So I wear at least spf 4 in the winter and spf 30-50 in the Summer half year. I seem to have used it up but I had a light blue one from Nivea for face use that's none greasy and it lasted me well into Fall. I'll need to get a hold of that one again. I think it was SPF30 which means I still tanned even after 15 mins. walking (I usually walk 1 hr. a day) so I'll wear a hat this summer.

Garnier's sun screens are sold in supermarkets but the highest spf I found there was 50. I still tan but again the most important part is that I don't get hyperpigmentation anymore.

My L'oreal True Match foundation has spf 10 or 15 but I don't usually apply it thickly enough to cover all parts of my face so I use a cheap Oriflame face lotion with spf 8 under it. That'll do until it gets sunnier outside.

 

[Miss Golightly]

How do these sunscreens go with foundation?

The Dr Murad is fine to wear under make-up as it's really light - doesn't take much time to sink in either. I would highly recommend it.

 

[Smuterella]

i've just been using childrens spray sunscreen, perhaps i should do my skin a favour and get something better but given i use cold cream, nivea moistiuriser and baking soda on it, it seems a bit of an odd thing to spend so much on... :eusa_doh:

 

[Lillemor]

When I run out of my own, I use the same spray on as I use on my boys but it has to be warm enough to spray outside because it's blue.lol

 

[Laura Chase]

I haven't even been thinking that much about sunscreen for my face, because I remember reading mineral foundation is a natural sunscreen. Is this true, anyway?

For my body I've just used the highest factor I could find. Last summer it was a 50 SPF from Ahava. It's actually quite nice, the skin absorbs it quickly and it smells nice. You could easily use it on your face too.

I was wondering, do any of you know if sunscreen can be kept in a cool, dark place and used again next summer? Because I hardly ever need it during the winter here in Denmark, and I never use up the entire bottle. Some people say that it can get old and loose its effect.

 

[Medvssa]

I remember reading mineral foundation is a natural sunscreen. Is this true, anyway?

Zinc oxide and Titanium dioxide are physical barrier sunscreens, mineral makeup more likely has one of them, or both (look at the ingredient list). How much SPF a given mineral makeup might have, though, is very difficult to tell, unless they provide the % of these ingredients or the SPF itself. Still, coverage and efficiency will depend on every single application...
On strong sun (other than winter, perhaps), I would use a sunscreen cream under the MMU.

As for it to go bad, again if it is a physical barrier cream, based in one or both above ingredients, I don't see how it could go bad (lose effectivity) anytime soon, although the base cream might go rancid, or get contaminated, and so on.

If the sunscreen is chemical, I wouldn't keep it for more than a year after opening it.

 

[Tinseltown]

Lillemor - If you want something new, you should try the one I recommended. I think it's 160 kr in the pharmacies.

Laura - Wow, I have saved a sunscreen over winter once, but never thought about it being to old/losing it's effect. [huh] I will use the LRP lait all year round now (since the sun is damaging in the winter too, although it's cloudy and freezing), so I won't be having that problem.
I will try to find out, though.

 

[cecil]

Hi ladies - I am on the hunt for a high SPF (50 is standard for me!) sunscreen that won't make me break out. My skin is oily, large-pored (so stuff gets in) and very burnable - then I freckle, which is adding insult to injury.
I need a sunscreen that is NOT a cream, more like just the liquid with the chemical. Like they were originally in the 70s!
Even Neutrogena for the face makes me break out. And forget the No Ad and that sort of thing, loaded with mineral oil.
Any ideas? The one in the first post sounds promising, except the poster says they have dry skin...so it may be dangerous for me.

Don't bother with an SPF claim of anything higher than 30+. It's usually misleading and always gloopy. it's much much better to use an SPF 30 sunscreen and apply enough of the stuff than to use an SPF 60 and end up not putting enough on because it's so thick.

That and SPF only measures protection against UVB rays. while these are the rays that will make you burn, UVA rays can give you freckles and cancer just as easily, so if you aren't using a broad spectrum sunscreen you're using a mostly useless product no matter how high the SPF is. you must use broad spectrum!

a few links about sunscreen labelling:

http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/Hot_Topics/Tip_Of_The_Week/Tips_Archive/Sunscreen and safety.html

http://shop.cancercouncil.com.au/t-faq.aspx

http://www.absolutelypure.com/article-12

 

[Miss 1929]

30 is not enough!

I burn right through it. Really, I do. So 45 or higher. I just want the chemicals without the grease!
I will look into the Gel ones, Mojito, as I am never wearing foundation except the rare night-time glamorous event. I am pale enough that with just powder, I look like I have foundation on. I do paint out all my random spots with concealer though.
I keep thinking someday I will have dry skin, that would be so much easier and cleaner than oily skin! But even now that I am menopausal, I still have teenage skin. What a drag.

 

[cecil]

but what i'm saying is that those labels are usually wrong or misleading, and that 30+ is the same as a higher spf or very similar. This is why in Australia, with out high rate of melanoma, it is illegal to claim an SPF of over 30+ for a suncream. your best bet is to go with a 30+ and apply it every few hours.

i'm like you with acne, heeeaps of stuff breaks me out. i can't wear sunscreen with titanium oxide in it without breaking out and that's what most of them have...maybe try one with zinc oxide or avobenzone? could it be that the blocker itself is breaking you out rather than the creamyness?

 

[Mojito]

Thanks for the suggestions, folks! I usually try to stay out of the sun when I'm wearing makeup (e.g. my daily work wear), but I'd feel more comfortable with a foundation compatable sunscreen for days when I think I'm going to cop it. I work by the Harbour and there's a lot of reflected light off all our white tiled buildings and the water - I've been standing there for 10 mins on a bright day watching one of our vessels tie up, and managed to walk away with a burn.

The sports sunscreens seem to work reasonably well, even on the days when I've gone out for a two hour run in summer and am perspiring *quite* freely - touch wood, I don't recall getting burned. Most of those runs take place as early in the day as possible, though.

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

I read that Dita Von Teese uses Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry Touch suncreen, which has to be a pretty good recommendation given that she is so pale!

 

[Smuterella]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....2BS%2BIA&itu=UCC%2BCSP%2BUCI%2BSI&otn=8&ps=35

ooh!

 

[pigeon toe]

In the summer I go nuts with Banana Boat SPF 50. I typically stay out of the sun anyway, but even from a 10 minute walk in the sun I can turn beet red!

During other months, I usually wear Aveeno moisturizer with SPF 30. I was using Olay for awhile, but that was too greasy for me. The SPF 50 I use is can be pretty greasy at first, but it smells nice and I'd rather be a little shiny than a lobster.

 

[MissHannah]

Cecil - thank you so much for those links - I had no idea about all that and was blithely walking around imagining myself 'safe' in a cheap SPF50.

 

[Paisley]

During the summer, I also wear a hat with a wide brim--it really does help.

 

[Audrey Horne]

I read that Dita Von Teese uses Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry Touch suncreen, which has to be a pretty good recommendation given that she is so pale!

I've heard many good things about the Dry Touch but I absolutely hate it for myself. I've even gone back to it multiple times thinking that maybe it really is that great and I should give it another try. Unless they've changed the formula it has a really strong heavy sun block smell and it makes the skin around my eyes burn.

 

[MissAmelina]

Just got my La Roche Posay spf50 and it is AWESOME. It did not sting during application (sometimes these things fire up my rosacea) and did not leave my skin greasy...I was afraid when I first put it on, but my skin ate it right up. I love that it is PDD 31...it and is not thick at all...a bit runny, actually. I'll take before and after shots of my vacation in sunny Florida in a few weeks to see how well it works.

 

[Tinseltown]

Just got my La Roche Posay spf50 and it is AWESOME. It did not sting during application (sometimes these things fire up my rosacea) and did not leave my skin greasy...I was afraid when I first put it on, but my skin ate it right up. I love that it is PDD 31...it and is not thick at all...a bit runny, actually. I'll take before and after shots of my vacation in sunny Florida in a few weeks to see how well it works.

I am so glad you like it!