Sunscreen: what are you using, and when/how are you applying?

I use Badger -- the kind you can find in a tin. Sold at REI. 

https://www.badgerbalm.com/products/adventure-sport-mineral-sunscreen-tin-spf-50

The ingredients in total are this:

Mineral Zinc Oxide 25%, Organic Sunflower Oil, Organic Beeswax, Sunflower Vitamin E.

All of which I can pronounce. I'm kinda over, "sun screen tech" if the low tech option is to just put something semi-opaque on your face.

I can apply it once a day and it'll stick. So long as it's on my skin, it's working, it doesn't break down like a chemical sunscreen. Big upfront cost but a tin will last you far more than any chemical sunscreen. 

I also use a sun hoodie these days and sun pants if it's not too too hot out. For the Sun Hoody, the KETL NoFry is my current favorite - good breathability and just enough sun protection. Sun pants, I go with a pair Outdoor Research Astro Sun Pants (discontinued), I wish I could find a more breathable pair. So sometimes, all I have to apply sunscreen on is all of my face, and my hands. If it's crazy bright out (sunny, snow on the ground) I'll even wear a mask -- I use the Beeko Cheeko, but there are other options. 

https://bxgear.com/product/cheeko/

I've also started experimenting with supplementing on carotenoids -- which literally turn you more orange and have been shown (with science) to bump up your natural sun protection by an SPF of 5, 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/phpp.12690

Too soon to see if it works (ie: I haven't turned orange). There is also another supplement that may marginally help called Heliocare. Sounds like snake oil, but there is some science behind it. 

https://heliocare.com

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4345929/

(no affiliation with anything I've listed) 

I lost my Father actually to skin cancer (yeah: it happens). I'd like to not go out the same way.

Breakell T, Kowlaski I, Foerster  Y, Kramer R, Erdmann M, Berking C, et al. Ultraviolet Filters: Dissecting Current Facts and Myths. J Clin Med. 2024; May 19 13(10):2986 https:// doi 10.3390/jcm13102986.

Friends don't let friends climb sunny routes in the summer.

If I'm climbing in the sun, it's cool enough I can use a sun hoodie and some face sunscreen. I use a mineral sunscreen since they last longer and are better full-spectrum blockers. I'd been using Blue Lizard but it leaves a lot of chalky residue. These days I use Raw Elements since it's cheaper on sale and far less noticeable (and less greasy on your hands). 

Apply at home or at the car and wash your hands with dish soap - just a drop suffices (I keep a tiny thing of dawn in the car and bring an extra water bottle for cleaning sunscreen hands). 

Creams. 30 SPF minimum, around 50 at most. What I use varies on what’s available. Generally, mid price brands. The cheap options take ages to rub in, the expensive are expensive, but sometimes I decide I’m worth them.  Often I’ll get the more expensive stuff for the face and cheaper for anywhere else. I will go for face specific sunscreen to reduce acne. I also use lip balm with spf. 

I tend to use chemical sunscreen because I don’t see the physical sunscreen with skin color tints in stores, and I don’t want to look like a white ghost. I already look anti-social enough. I also find the chemical sunscreens easier to rub in than a stick or mineral. Spray is 1/10. Only if I’m desperate and borrowing, somethings better than nothing. 

I wear long pants, sun hoody, sunglasses (wrap around, none of that fashion shit with giant gaps at the side), and socks I cut in half like a tube to cover my ankles, probably 96/100 times. Occasionally I’ll use a buff over the face (if my partners chill I look like a bank robber). Baseball hat under the sun hoody if I’m belaying on deck without a helmet. No hat while climbing, it gets in my way. Yes, I sweat. I was already going to. I’d rather sweat and use less sunscreen. 

I reapply about every two hours to any exposed skin. For me, that’s the face, part of my neck, and the back of my hands. I’ll also go a little past my clothes, for when the wind blows the hoody to expose part of an ear or my sleeves slip down. My palms get greasy. I wipe them on my pants and deal with it. I don’t use chalk, partly because I don’t want it in the way of sunscreen. 

I’ll bring sunscreen up short multi pitches if I think it’ll take more than two hours from my last application to get back to my bag at the base with my sunscreen.  I’ll reapply sooner if I’ve got sweat running down my cheeks like a river in this hell we call summer. Sometimes I’ll wait longer because that’s just how it plays out when the pitch takes longer than predicted. 

Cloudy or sunny, it’s going on. Them cancer rays are out there. I put it on about an hour after sunrise and give up around an hour till sunset. I figure the sun’s gotta be weak enough at those times, I can treat myself to a little reprieve.  

For leisure reading-

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/how-to-apply-sunscreen/

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-science-of-sunscreen

https://sncs-prod-external.mayo.edu/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/myth-or-fact-coconut-is-an-effective-sunscreen

https://www.fda.gov/drugs/understanding-over-counter-medicines/sunscreen-how-help-protect-your-skin-sun#dates

https://www.bu.edu/articles/2024/do-you-really-need-to-wear-sunscreen/

Orion Belt wrote:

I tend to use chemical sunscreen because I don’t see the physical sunscreen with skin color tints in stores, and I don’t want to look like a white ghost.

This seems less of an issue these days. I only see the sunscreen on my face if it gets into my beard.

Always a sun hoodie and whatever I can find spf 30+ for my face before the approach then a stick on route if I need it or if lots of single pitch then in-between. 

I don’t use sunscreen. Ever. Sunburn can be mitigated by avoiding direct sun during the heat of the day, avoiding food that disrupts your endocrine system, and by covering your skin. Having a proper diet (no refined oils, ultra-processed carbohydrates and preservatives) will keep you from getting burned but won’t do as much to protect against uv damage to your dna, so covering your skin to reduce your exposure to damaging rays to a reasonably low level does the rest. There have been more brands of sunscreen that have been recalled for causing cancer and causing other chronic conditions than not over the past 20 years so I avoid it. 

Nick Budka wrote:

I don’t use sunscreen. Ever.

Found the east coaster.

I recently stumbled on this:

https://www.ewg.org/sunscreen/best-sunscreens/best-beach-sport-sunscreens/

It may or may not be helpful. 

Long Ranger wrote:

Found the east coaster.

Lol I thought the same. Doesn't work so well at elevation in the west.

Not to mention the weird (unsupported) theories mixed in there. The right wing wierdos have been on this anti-suncreen bender lately, and have gotten into tallow based sunscreen. It's the same people that are freaked out by the covid vaccine. 

Not disputing the assertion that covering up (sun hoodies) and avoiding the sun can be smart choice and partial replacements for sunscreen in some circumstances. But they're not a full replacement in all cases. If you spend time in sunny alpine areas in the west, and are a pasty Irish person like myself, you're going to need sunscreen at least on your face. Even if you're planning your days to climb rock in the shade, the sun will get you on sunny approaches, ridge scrambles, rest days at the lake, etc.

JCM wrote:

Not to mention the weird (unsupported) theories mixed in there. The right wing wierdos have been on this anti-suncreen bender lately, 

Fellow pasty Irishman here -- this IS weird. The benzene in sunscreen is unacceptable, but it IS worth doing some research on the amount of benzene one is exposed to on the reg anyways and how you can limit exposure: you breath it in, so it tracks that spay-on chemical sunscreen may be best to avoid. But JCM, I've also have listened to many a crackpot (which I don't think Nick is) that don't believe sunburns are a thing at all -- but just a sign that your body hasn't toughened up to sun exposure (google "Solar Callus"). I can't tell you how much of a fuck you that is to me or the memory of my Father (who for the record was olive skinned, black hair, w/brown eyes -- That sliver of Irish in the family really was strong!).

Mineral sunscreen is kinda oily feeling -- I just got used to it. I'm happy with the much longer time between applications, I'm happy with the better performance, I don't see a haze myself (being pasty to begin with!) and it's been cheaper in the long run. Chemical sunscreens now sound really weird to me. I don't want that shit in the environment as it obvious is not good for it.

Sun shirts have also improved. My sun shirt is so cool sometimes I feel like I am cooler wearing it than not. I also wear thin breathable pants. So I climb with my body fully covered except for face. That way I don’t have to worry about sunscreen, and I don’t come home with bloody limbs when I badly jam them. For my face, I apply 3 layers of mineral sunscreen (my face doesn’t like chemical ones) and then reapply when I remember with sun sticks. I am very prone to sun burns and this works for me every time. 

Multi time skin cancer survivor here. I wear UPF 50 sun hoodies and pants every day outside even in the summer. Sunscreen to neck and face, wear a hat or helmet when climbing. 

I use Aveeno or neutrogena SPF 50 childs mineral sunscreen (zinc).  They are the same company and I strongly suspect the product is identical.  

Mineral sunscreens depend up the 'glue' to keep the sunscreen in place and protect you and are effective as long as it is in place. These sunscreens will stay in place all day and are difficult to remove even with soap and water. Chemical sunscreens react when UV light hits them and turn into another chemical. So they get used up during the day. The FDA will only allow sunscreens to claim effectiveness for 90 minutes for this reason, even though mineral sunscreens are effective much longer.

Chemical sunscreens are also know to be hormone disruptors, I don't know how important that is but I choose to stay away.

Children's sunscreens are formulated to not irritate baby's skin and eyes but are just as effective for adults.  So I choose children's sunscreen so my eyes do not get irritated if I get sunscreen in them.

I also wear long sleeves shirts (marketed as sun shirts these days  :) ) and long pants, hats and a dabrim on my helmet.  

I have lots of experience with skin cancer, I now describe the number of skin cancers I have had removed as uncountable, 2-3 dozen.  So I don't care in the least that I look like a ghost with sunscreen on my face or look odd with long sleeve shirts and pants in 100 degree weather.  Although since sun shirts have come out that is not so weird any more. 

American sunscreens aren’t regulated, so theres no guaranteed you are actually getting SPF fifty. most of them are not reef safe either (sun bum and nutrogeuna are the two off the top of my head that are not reef safe).

I’d recommend buying an australian made sunscreen as its way more heavily regulated by their government and actually has to be reef safe. Blue Lizard is the Australian sunscreen  ive switched to because of its affordability and other qualities mentioned above but does leave a bit of a white cast (i have a darker skin tone).

I will also jump on the bandwagon and say that getting a sun hoodie was very much worth the money.

Mary Elizabeth Beckwith wrote:

American sunscreens aren’t regulated

Fact checker: This statement is false. American sunscreens are regulated at a drug (not as a cosmetic) by the FDA. There's room to discuss the structure of that regulation compared to other countries. But to say the "aren't regulated" is misinformation. 

I'm ginger and don't use sunscreen living at altitude in the sun etc by always wearing pants, long sleeve shirt and sun hat. Last time I got burnt I was in Michigan 

JCM wrote:

Fact checker: This statement is false. American sunscreens are regulated at a drug (not as a cosmetic) by the FDA. There's room to discuss the structure of that regulation compared to other countries. But to say the "aren't regulated" is misinformation. 

I was also under the impression that this is also why we don't get better sunscreen: it hasn't been approved by the FDA, so Aussie, Korean, and Japanese chemical sunscreens are just better. 

But it doesn't matter to me: mineral works. I don't need sunscreen in the makeup I don't wear.

One of the reasons why I stayed away from mineral sunscreen for so long and used fine spray mist sunscreen for forever was that I thought I would just break out with a creame, but I have since found out that sunflower oil -- which is the medium that my mineral sunscreen is made with -- is not comedogenic. Neither is zinc or titanium dioxide.  

Alcohol based is my preferance. I apply once in the morning, wash my hands, then leave the house.
Ex, one of several such:
https://a.co/d/2URIwzj

I also only apply to nose and face below my eyes, not to my forehead, and to the back of my hands. I wear sun hoodies and pants so nothing else is needed.

There have been more brands of sunscreen that have been recalled for causing cancer and causing other chronic conditions than not over the past 20 years so I avoid it.

Do you have any references, case studies, case series, or review articles? What type of malignancies, what are the risk factors, what type of sunscreen did the patients use, how much, how often, where was it applied, and duration of use? What ingredient or ingredients of the sunscreens were identified as the cause of the malignancy? Co-morbidities that could be confounders?  Any patients have occupational or environmental exposure to a carcinogen?  What are the chronic conditions that sunscreen has caused?