Smokescreen

Recently in Arizona and Nevada, with the sun beaming down on us through a cloudless sky in a temperature of 108F, we didn’t have any sun protection on.  Oh I had slathered us both with Neutrogena’s 110 SPF sunscreen but it turns out that it was about as effective as covering our bodies with chicken fat.

My Free-FM colleague Avery Moore interviewed a local dermatologist this past week. Dr. Wexler opened up the Pandora’s box of labeling tricks and other marketing claims that mislead us, the unaware public, about sunscreens.  I thought I knew all about them having researched the genre of lotions and potions in an attempt to stay as melanoma-free as possible.  Not so much, it appears.

The 110 SPF claim is, in a word, bullshit.  The doctor says anything over 60 SPF (sun protection factor) is basically a lie.  Dermatologists recommend 30 SPF but if you decide to go for 60 SPF you won’t get double the protection, which you would think you would.  You’ll get “minimally more” protection.  And if your sunscreen’s label doesn’t specifically say “broad spectrum”, you may as well start using butter.  Those words – broad spectrum – mean it protects to the level it claims for both UVA and UVB rays. Otherwise the SPF factor only refers to UVA.  My 110 SPF?  No “broad spectrum” coverage.  So that $22 bottle of goop is garbage, which is where it went.  My 60 SPF had the proper terminology and so it stays.

It irks me to think that I didn’t get proper protection in the hottest, sunniest weather I’ve ever experienced.  I also used that product consistently in Mexico and I wondered if the 110 SPF claim was too good to be true but what was the worst that could happen, I thought.  That I only got a protective factor of 60 or so? I could live with that. Turns out I didn’t even get that much.  Neutrogena is one of those companies that has a really good reputation, too. It’s not as if I was purchasing Fred’s Off-Shore Sunscreen from the dollar store.

So beware and be wise.  If someone as particular as I am about staying out of and protected from the sun can be misled, I’m guessing there are millions of consumers who don’t know the ins and outs of sunscreen. Oh yeah, and if you’re slathering your kids?  The label tells you it will be about 20 minutes before the sunscreen takes effect but Dr. Wexler says that what it doesn’t tell you is that it has to be put on in the shade.  So back-time accordingly before you hit the beach or the pool deck.