Once a Day Sunscreen – Don’t be fooled!

I have always been a tad on the paranoid side about protecting little ones in the sun. Whilst  I  love my daughter to play outside, and am all about getting a good dose of vitamin D, I do worry about the affect of the suns rays on her pale skin, and as a result, we generally don’t go far without her being slathered from head to toe in factor 50! At many local nurseries and schools, they insist on children wearing a dose of their recommended once a day sunscreen / “all day” sun protection – which is as it happens Ultrasun, although there are obviously a number of “once a day” lotions available.

I was therefore slightly concerned to hear the results of the latest Which report – which found that so called “all day” once a day sunscreen protection, including UltraSun, can last just 6-8 hours, despite not being exposed to physical activity or swimming (factors which may affect the impact of such products). Their tests found that a sunscreen with an SPF of 30 could actually drop to just SPF 8 over the course of a day. In the test conditions – sunscreen was applied to the backs of volunteers, who then sat in a chair wearing a t-shirt. They saw an average of 74% reduction in SPF protection by the end of the tests, between 6-8 hours later. The only real factor therefore likely to affect the results was the risk of “rubbing” the t-shirt and their backs against the chair – there was no swimming, washing, sweating, or additional heat exposed. Lets face it, with our children, there is likely to be at least some physical energy exerted during the day!

Interestingly the report also highlighted that in Australia, claims of once a day sunscreen protection have been completely banned, as they do not wish brands to claim that reapplication of sunscreen is not required. Skin cancer rates in Australia are some of the highest in the world, and such claims have been found to be unreliable at best! Cancer Research UK and The British Association of Dermatologists are now advising against relying on “once a day” claims whatever  the product may say on the bottle.

So the moral of the story, reapply, reapply, reapply! The forecast is good this bank holiday weekend (for once!) so please don’t rely on the claims of once a day sunscreen. Our children’s skin is too precious to risk!

You can read the full Which? report here – http://www.which.co.uk/reviews/sun-creams/article/once-a-day-sun-creams