Ingredients matter – learn if your brand leaves you overexposed to damaging UVA rays, if it breaks down in the sun or if it contains potential hormone-disrupting compounds.
Avoid these
Look for theseThe best defenses against getting too much harmful UV radiation are protective clothes, shade and timing. Check out the checklist:
Don’t get burned. Red, sore, blistered (then peeling) skin is a clear sign you’ve gotten far too much sun. Sunburn increases skin cancer risk – keep your guard up!
Wear clothes. Shirts, hats, shorts and pants shield your skin from the sun’s UV rays – and don’t coat your skin with goop. A long-sleeved surf shirt is a good start.
Find shade – or make it. Picnic under a tree, read beneath an umbrella, take a canopy to the beach. Keep infants in the shade – they lack tanning pigments (melanin) to protect their skin.
Plan around the sun. If your schedule is flexible, go outdoors in early morning or late afternoon when the sun is lower in the sky. UV radiation peaks at midday, when the sun is directly overhead.
Sunglasses are essential. Not just a fashion accessory, sunglasses protect your eyes from UV radiation, a cause of cataracts.
Some sunscreens prevent sunburn but not other types of skin damage. Make sure yours provides broad spectrum protection and follow our other tips for better protection.
Don’t be fooled by a label that boasts of high SPF. Anything higher than “SPF 50+” can tempt you to stay in the sun too long, suppressing sunburn but not other kinds of skin damage. The FDA says these numbers are misleading. Stick to SPF 15-50+, reapply often and pick a product based on your own skin coloration, time planned outside, shade and cloud cover.
News about Vitamin A. Eating vitamin A-laden vegetables is good for you, but spreading vitamin A on the skin may not be. Government data show that tumors and lesions develop sooner on skin coated with vitamin A-laced creams. Vitamin A, listed as “retinyl palmitate” on ingredient labels, is in one-fourth of sunscreens on the market. Avoid them.
Ingredients matter. Avoid the sunscreen chemical oxybenzone, a synthetic estrogen that penetrates the skin and contaminates the body. Look for active ingredients zinc, titanium, avobenzone or Mexoryl SX. These substances protect skin from harmful UVA radiation and remain on the skin, with little if any penetrating into the body. Also, skip sunscreens with insect repellent – if you need bug spray, buy it separately and apply it first.
Pick a good sunscreen. EWG’s sunscreen database rates the safety and efficacy of about 1,800 SPF-rated products, including about 800 sunscreens for beach and sports. We give high ratings to brands that provide broad spectrum, long-lasting protection with ingredients that pose fewer health concerns when absorbed by the body.
Cream, spray or powder – and how often? Sprays and powders cloud the air with tiny particles of sunscreen that may not be safe to breathe. Choose creams instead. Reapply them often, because sunscreen chemicals break apart in the sun, wash off and rub off on towels and clothing.
Message for men: Wear sunscreen. Surveys show that 34 percent of men wear sunscreens, compared to 78 percent of women. Start using it now to reduce your cumulative lifetime exposure to damaging UV radiation.
Got your Vitamin D? Many people don’t get enough vitamin D, which skin manufactures in the presence of sunlight. Your doctor can test your level and recommend supplements or a few minutes of sun daily on your bare skin (without sunscreen) if you have low risk for skin cancer.
Kids are more vulnerable to sun damage. A few blistering sunburns in childhood can double a person’s lifetime chances of developing serious forms of skin cancer. The best sunscreen is a hat and shirt. After that, protect kids with a sunscreen that’s effective and safe. Take these special precautions with infants and children:
Infants under six months should be kept out of direct sun as much as possible. Their skin is not yet protected by melanin. So when you take your baby outside:
Sunscreens play an essential part of any day in the sun. However, young children’s skin is especially sensitive to chemical allergens as well as the sun’s UV rays. When choosing a sunscreen, keep these tips in mind:
Sometimes school and daycare policies interfere with children’s sun safety. Many schools treat sunscreen as a medicine and require the child to have written permission to use it. Some insist that the school nurse apply it. Other schools ban hats and sunglasses. Here are a few questions to ask your school:
Teenagers coveting bronzed skin are likely to sunbathe, patronize tanning salons or buy self-tanning products – not good ideas. Researchers believe increasing UV exposure may have caused the marked increase in melanoma incidence among women born after 1965. Tanning parlors expose the skin to as much as 15 times the UV radiation of the sun and likely contribute to the melanoma increase. Many chemicals in self-tanning products have not been tested for safety; the major self-tanning chemical, dihydroxyacetone, is not approved by the FDA for use in cosmetics around the eyes.
Tan does not mean healthy. Here are a few more tips:
