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Your skin is your body’s largest organ, so it makes sense to protect it, right? Unfortunately, when the sun’s out and the weather is great, so many of us take our skin for granted. Especially after a severe, prolonged winter, who wants to think about (or who even remembers!) to wear sunscreen?
I’ll save you the lecture about why wearing sunscreen is important to protect your skin, keep yourself from getting skin cancer, and what sun damage can do to your youthful skin. If you’re anything like I was, you already know this stuff and you’ll listen… sometimes. When you remember. If someone’s bought sunscreen.
However, since we’re in our theme month of Summer Savings, I would be remiss not to let you in on a little summertime secret: you need sunscreen, but you don’t have to spend a lot of money to buy the right kind. And you don’t have to remember a bunch of mumbo-jumbo to pick the right sunscreen. Read on for some more (easy, I promise!) summer sunscreen and savings tips!
Choosing the Right Sunscreen
If you remember nothing else, I hope you take away the following:
- Sunscreen that says “broad spectrum” is one of the best you can buy. Broad spectrum products will protect you against both ultraviolet B radiation (UVB) and ultraviolet A radiation (UVA). Basically, both UVA and UVB radiation cause skin damage. UVA is worse, in my opinion, because beyond the sunburn, UVA rays also cause skin cancer and premature aging. Not cool, sun, not cool.
- Zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are your friends. I know it sounds weird to recommend products that sound like they are toxic, but they’re not. Zinc oxide and titanium dioxide help to deflect the sun’s rays and protect your skin, so if you see a sunscreen product with those in them, that’s a good sign! Bonus: they’re also okay to put on over make up, so if you put on make up first and forgot your sunscreen, sunscreens with zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide will still work over your make up! Win-win!
More Sunscreen Savings Tips
Still don’t believe me when I say you don’t have to spend a lot of money on sunscreen? I’m not joking! As long as your skin isn’t too sensitive, using a spray-on sunscreen product, using a tinted lotion, using just plain old regular sunscreen: as long as it’s broad spectrum, it’s fine to use!
The most important thing to keep in mind is using sunscreen correctly. Put it on at least 15 minutes before you go outside, and use the right amount. Think quarter-size for your face and a shot glass for your body. When in doubt? Use more. Do you know how big bottles of sunscreen are? Trust me, it takes a lot to use up a bottle of sunscreen!
Here are 7 more summer savings tips for buying sunscreen:
- Buy what you’ll actually use – but it does take sunscreen a while to expire, so if you buy extra and don’t use it all in one season, don’t automatically toss it!
- Buy generic – price means nothing about the “worth” or effectiveness of your sunscreen.
- One sunscreen to rule them all – unless you or someone in your family has sensitive skin, you all can use the same type of sunscreen. Even kids’ sunscreens offer the same protection as regular sunscreen. Go for price first, type second.
- Use coupons to buy sunscreen
- Store sunscreen properly – don’t leave it outside in the hot summer sun, and try not to leave it in your car all day long. You don’t have to refrigerate it, but try to store it inside as much as possible.
- Try to use it year round – unless you live in a place that gets absolutely no sun, try to get in the habit of wearing sunscreen, particularly on your face.
- Buy broad spectrum, SPF 30 or higher. SPF 15 will work, but you’ll likely need to reapply it more often. To save yourself from having to reapply as much, try to pick a higher SPF sunscreen. That said, you don’t likely need SPF 90+ unless your skin is very sensitive.
Have any summer sunscreen questions? What are your summertime cover up tricks, or are you one of those people who tries to absorb as much sunlight as possible? 😉
One sunscreen to rule them all – haha, love it! I really agree with you on using sunscreen year round. Apparently most of the active ingredients lose their potency after a year (even if it isn’t expired).
Haha, thank you! That’s true about potency. I suppose you could still try to use it, just know you may have to apply more frequently. I’d hate to throw out sunscreen if it weren’t expired! I usually try to finish a bottle in the summer, since I am outside a little more. If I’m not going to finish it, that’s when I start sharing it with everyone I know (family members, mostly). It helps me get rid of it, plus they can use it too 🙂
When it comes to sunscreen I’m all about the generic brands. There really is no reason to buy “name brand” sunscreen, at least from what I know. It seems like a fairly simple product for generic brands to replicate.
I definitely agree about generic brands, especially when it comes to all-over body protection. Face sunscreens can be a little tricky, especially if your face is sensitive. That’s why a lot of people recommend baby sunscreens for your face, since they’re made to be a little gentler. If you don’t have kids, you can always test several different facial sunscreen lines and see what works best. Or if you’re lucky enough to tolerate generic, then that’s easy to stick with to! 🙂
Confession: I splurge on sunscreen. I burn so so easily, and the only stuff that’s truly ever worked for me is Arbonne. Expensive, but a little goes a long way and it lasts a long time. I don’t know the science behind why it works so well for me when others fail, but it does. I’m also pretty much see through, though, so I’m probably the exception rather than the rule.
This year, I’m going to get a high UPF rash guard for our beach trip. That way I won’t have to use as much sunscreen, either.
Hey, I’m a big fan of finding something that works for you and sticking to it! I use this mattifying sunscreen by Neutrogena (I think – I get it on Amazon Subscribe and Save) exclusively, just because it does such a great job protecting my skin and reducing my oily skin. It’s not the cheapest, but I’m always hesitant using the cheapest stuff on my face. I have to take my face to work and in public, after all 😉
The UPF guard sounds awesome – I’ve heard good things about clothes made to deflect the suns rays, so I’m curious to see if they’re effective! Let me know if you like it 🙂
Sunscreen is actually pretty expensive considering how much you need it. I thought it was hilarious when a friend recently got back from Thailand and went on and on about how cheap everything is EXCEPT the sunscreen, where it’s like $30 a bottle – because the Thai know those pale Westerners can’t keep up with their intense rays.
Maybe it depends on where you are – I was just at a natural foods store today, and there were pretty good sized bottles there for $8. A bottle that size would probably last you and one more person a summer, depending how much time you spend outside. Like Tre says, stocking up at Costco (if possible) is a good way to save some money too!
It’s a good point though – if you’re out a lot, one bottle may not be enough. In that case, definitely finding coupons, buying generic, and covering up as much as possible will reduce some of the cost burden. But it’s still cheaper than paying for a dermatologist 5-10 years down the road!
Haha, and given that your friend saved so much in Thailand on everything else, I guess they could deal with the expensive sunscreen 😉 There’s capitalism for you!
I love the sun, but use my sunscreen everyday. I tend more toward tomato red than golden brown 🙂 I usually stock up at Costco when it’s on sale. Spray bottles are best cause it’s easier to get on squirming kids.
Sprays are my favorite, and I’m not even a squirming kid! The only thing they recommend about spray bottles is be really thorough with them. If you’re putting them on outside, sometimes the wind can blow away some of the spray. Plus add a wiggling kid, and it’s easy to miss spots. I just go over myself twice when spraying on – it seems to cover everything! 🙂