Wednesday, March 24, 2010

SPF 100+

Sun Protection Factor 100+. In other words, you won't get a sunburn.

When I was shopping around for sunscreen to take to Pakistan I wanted the highest, most protective stuff out there. At 26,000 feet there is a lot less air in the way blocking the sun's UV rays. I went looking for zinc oxide. That white paste that you see on lifeguards noses in movies. Well, it's a pretty difficult thing to find. When I finally found some it was a 5% solution and had an SPF of like 45. On the same shelf at Walgreens was a new line of Neutrogena products called Ultra Sheer. At the most protective they had a tube of SPF 100+ which only debuted in 2009.

After asking the pharmacist it turns out that SPF is a measured factor. So zinc oxide or not SPF 50 protects from the sun more than SPF 20 no matter what the ingredients are. So I bought the SPF 100+.

I must say I have been nothing but pleased. Every part of my skin I have covered in that stuff has stayed sunburn free. I haven't even gotten red after wearing it. However, SPF measures only UVB rays and not UVA rays which still cause cancer and aging. So staying out forever just because you aren't getting red does not mean you are not getting cancer, it means you are less likely to get cancer.

Every time I whip it out I feel like it's a gag. Nobody else ever has anything over SPF 50. I feel like a walking science experiment. Fortunately, it doesn't stay white once you rub it in. It's just like any other sunscreen I have ever used, except it lasts a long time. I have never applied it twice in one day.

Technology. What will we think of, improve, invent, change, or create next?

4 comments:

  1. hey, Zinc cream is in the baby products section of your local drug store. Its everywhere!

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  2. We will add, one-by-one, more and more blades to razors until at last we are shaving with 32 blades at once.

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  3. Thank you Anonymous and Lane have you ever tried five blades? It's really smooth.

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  4. My current razor has 6 blades.

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