Now It's Summer....

[doodles]

Some advice please..

It was sunny today and I was at a rugby tournament...I now look like a red panda, you know the look and it's not good. What I want to know is:

(1) Is it safe to use sunscreen that is a couple of years old? I've never really bothered with it before for myself but age seems to be playing havoc with my skin and there are a couple of oldish bottles lurking in the cupboard.

(2) Had anybody found a decent sunscreen that doesn't require a small mortgage and can do the whole family one of whom has mild eczema and is a bit allergic to things. I went into the shop on the way home and came away empty handed. Plus I don't want to end up carrying around a bottle for each dc and one for me too.

Sorry if these seem very trite questions but I really am a sunscreen novice and my face hurts

[Fingerscrossedmum]

Ouch - doodles, slather on loads of moisturiser tonight.

I'm sure I saw on the telly that sunscreen stops working properly after about a year so you'll need to reinvest. I dont know if there's a Lidls near you, but they had some in this week, miles cheaper than anywhere else and my friend who lives in Germany, swears by it.

[mm23292]

I love Avene products, Amazon stocks most, very effective and great for sensitive skin. Specifically for the face, I thoroughly recommend Soltan face factor 50. I have tried everything from the high end skin care range to the bargain basement one bottle for all, and I have not found better than this. Gentle, effective, and great value for money.

[scary mum]

I second both Soltan face sunscreen (easy to slip in your bag too) and Aldi ones, but I ve no idea what they are like for sensitive skins (hide of a rhino here ). Soltan usually on bogof as well.

[Minesatea]

Another vote for soltan (and my lot have fairly sensitive skin). I particularly like the range with insect repellent built in as we are a family that spends more time in woods and fields than on a beach!

(Thank you for the reminder - DS is DofE hiking next weekend so I had better get him some!)

[Reading Mum]

DD's school used to insist on them having all day sunscreen applied before they got to school and she has very sensitive skin. The only one she could handle was Piz Buin '1 day long'. It is expensive but you don't use as much as it really does seem to last all day. She is very fair so it's factor 50 here.

[Warks mum]

The rest of my family has very sensitive skin and we had real problems with lots of sunscreens and it began to cost us a fortune. Ironically, the one we now use is the cheapo own-brand from Superdrug. It used to come in a red bottle and I notice this year it is in a white bottle so I don't know if it's changed. Perhaps a new patch test is in order.

For my family one of the most important thing seems to be the level of perfume in the product. The more it smells, the more their skins react badly!

I recollect that I was once told that every year after a sunscreen has 'gone out of date' you could assume it's 'factor' was reduced by half. So a Factor 20 acted as a Factor 10 a year after it went out of date, Factor 5 after two years, etc. I have no data or websites to back this up though!

[pheasantchick]

Avon sun products are quite good, and usually on offer at a reasonable rate.

[Okanagan]

He seems to have grown out of it now, but we used to find that the ones labelled PABA-free were the only ones which didn't cause a bad reaction with ds1. Para-aminobenzoic acid is apparently quite a common allergen - and also a common ingredient in sunscreens (even in some which claim to be for sensitive skin!). So it is maybe worth looking out for that.

Do the ones you have have an expiration date on the bottle - or one of those little symbols which says how long they're good for after they're first opened?

[Tinkers]

Most people don't realise that a lot of cosmetics in general have a shelf life, particularly once opened. All these nutrients for our hair and skin are often lovely nutrients for microorganisms too, Hence the need for preservatives in them (sorry if that grosses any of you out) If you look on a bottle you will see a symbol that looks like a jar with the lid tipped off with a something like 12m on it giving the number of months.

Sunscreen in particular has a life of 1 year after which its effectiveness reduces.

The other important thing to remember is at sunscreen should not be rubbed in, as this also reduces the effectiveness.