2 New Sunscreen Facts I Bet You Didn't Know

Spring break is definitely a vacation, but fun in the sun takes some effort nowadays. I really should call it “fun in the shade on a sunny day” or “sun safe fun in the sun”.

Two weeks off of school for my kids means the opportunity for a getaway.  We haven’t quite mastered skiing and snowy vacations, so we are off to the warm weather again. Coming home as pale as I left is a challenge, but definitely possible. I went away on this vacation armed with two new pieces of knowledge which have helped me  So, I will share it with you.

First, sitting under a beach umbrella is not enough. Dr. Z. showed me a study published last year proving that sunscreen still gave better protection than sitting under an umbrella alone. Of course I still sit under and umbrella, but make sure to always have a full body of sunscreen on anyway. Apparently, light can reflect off of the ocean, glass windows, and even the screen of you mobile devices.

Second, I have always heard my husband tell people that the higher the SPF value the better. This year, a study was published proving that this theory was in fact true.  It was done on the ski slopes in Colorado, where skiers applied sunscreen with SPF 100+ to one side of the face and SPF 50 to the other. Guess what?  The lower SPF sunscreen got redder than the side of the face using SPF 100+.  And, the lower SPF was actually an SPF 50 (which I thought was pretty high to begin with)!  So now, I make sure to use the absolute highest SPF sunscreen I can find. I try to be diligent about applying frequently, but just in case, using an ultra high SPF can give me that safety net of extra protection! (As an FYI, the study was funded by Johnson and Johnson, the maker of Neutrogena, and the sunscreen used was Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch SPF 100+.)

So that’s #TheDermWifeApproved sunscreen update for Spring Break 2018!