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i went out on my bike the past 2 days and it's been great.the only problem is that i get sunburn easily.
can you recommend a good but cheap sunscreen that will do the job?
thanks in advance 😀
ps i know i'm an idiot for not protecting my skin. due to various reasons (depression,laziness,excuses etc) i don't ride very often,but would like to start riding more regularly again.
Kids sunscreen always seems cheaper.
Used to be Cyclax for me, but they appear to have stopped making it!
Got two 200ml bottles of Ambre Solaire SPF50 for £3 at Waitrose the other day, seems good so far!
Best to go for a high SPF (eg 50) since most people don’t put enough sunscreen on to get the full benefit.
Calypso all day stuff from Lidl or Aldi.
thanks for the replie s,will def check out all those 👍
Aldi Lacura comes out top I’ve just been bought some more as I got burnt yesterday as I forgot to put some on.
I find the Aldi Lacura 50 water resistant a little heavy and oily. i think the lidl one is nicer and i also got some nice spf 50 from Home Bargains, but im afraid i cant remember what it was....
Aldi, definately
A couple of weeks ago there was a report of high Vitamin D deficiency in, of all places, Australia. They lather themselves with so much factor 50 that it is harming them. The sun can't get through to produce the vitamin. Might as well wear a burka!!!
Just something to think about when picking sunscreens.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2733085
Something to think about when deciding whether the potential hazards of sunscreen are worth the benefit.
https://www.nhs.uk/news/cancer/just-five-sunburns-increase-your-cancer-risk/
SPF is only one aspect, and remember it's not linier protection from UVB, SPF 30 is not twice as good as SPF 15 for example, it's only a couple of percent.
What to look out for is also UVA protection, which is rated in stars out of 5. Its usually in the small print on the back... Cheaper sun creams don't have a rating for this, so if it's absent, avoid.
An SPF 15 with a 5 star UVA rating will be a lot better than and SPF 30 with an unrated or one star UVA rating.
Suggestions then Matt?
I like the P20 stuff, it's not cheap and it is oily, but it does seem to last all day.
And being oily it goes some way to keeping your skin moisturised when you go out cycling in a vest top to try and fade your tan lines, and 7 miles later you have bright red shoulders.
Guess what I did this morning........
Suggestions then Matt?
Hawaillian tropic works for me, not really cheap though.
Don't forget you can still burn though, you have to reapply it at sensible intervals.
I believe all the Boots own brand stuff offers 5 star uva protection and is priced ok.
B and M.
I despair
Get down to Asda
Suggestions then Matt?
Aldi Lacura still. It has 5 stars.
As drac, the lacura stuff is well priced and very good.
I find the p20 once a day stuff is very good but, like all suncream it's how you apply it makes most difference (30 mins or more before exposure)
and remember it’s not linier protection from UVB, SPF 30 is not twice as good as SPF 15 for example, it’s only a couple of percent
And remember, not everything you read on the Internet is true.
The truth in matyyfez's statement is:
spf15 absorbs ~93% of UV, spf 30 ~97% spf 50 98%.
But that's not what spf measures - strictly it measures time - but the important bit is transmission. An spf15 allows 1/15 transmission, spf 30 is 1/30 etc which is twice as effective as 15.
Strictly spf15 allows 15x the length of exposure to harmful UV as no protection, spf30 30x, spf50 50x and so on. In practical terms this is transmission (as you measure time to reach a level of exposure to a protected surface).
The suggestion SPF30 isn't twice as effective as spf15 stems from using the wrong number (and by that rationale you may as well use nothing beyond spf 2 since, at 50% absorbtion nothing is twice as effective short of dulux or spf10 which offers 90% absorbtion).
Or similar will give you a better answer if you're interested
I use Wilco’s factor 50, which seems to work ok. I’m out of doors all day, and if I wear a top with no sleeves, like I did on Friday, which reveals white upper arms, using the Wilco’s stuff didn’t allow any red areas to form. Tops of my ears didn’t get burnt either.
As someone with fair skin and 40+ years of living and working in really hot places, I don't use suncreen.
Long sleeved shirt, ¾ shorts, wide brimmed hat works better IMO.
That doesn't wash off, and isn't full of dodgy ingredients.
Doesn't really work on the bike though does it
or for watersports...
myti
Doesn’t really work on the bike though does it
Many Australians in the far North wear long sleeved lycra - a highly breathable version. It's what I did. And also a legionnaire style cap under the helmet. I've cycled in 35-40ºC like that with no problem The important thing is enough water. However I suppose living in that climate, we're more adapted to it.
singletrackmind
or for watersports…
A full stinger suit gives full protection, and doesn't wash off.
eg this is what I used to wear for several hours out in the sun sailing to offshore islands on theGreat Barrier Reef.
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One other thing. Don't wash with soap unless you have actual filth to get off. In heat you're probably showering at least a couple of times a day, so you're only needing to get rid of sweat. Don't strip your skin of its natural oils.
Friend of ours is a dermatologist - recommends this stuff - designed to be effective but also cheap enough to use lots ...
I use a kids factor 50 roller ball thing they sell in most chemists.
Can’t remember the brand but it’s good for water/sweat and doesn’t sting your eyes.
I like using the spray on ones..similar price to normal creams, but is a mist, so easier to apply (and easier for kids)
or for watersports…
Well, actually, for me a real holiday revelation was rash vests... I burn really easily, yet LOVE playing in the pool.
I genuinely used to be scared of the midday sun on holidays.. now i wear a rash vest i LVOE it!!
DrP
There's no such thing as a good cheap sunscreen; the materials like titanium dioxide, which protect you from UV are expensive so the better the sunscreen the more expensive it should be.
Ultrasun may not be the cheapest but it is all-day and it does work well.
I used it on all 5 of my maldives trips which included lots of swimming (rash vest on) and only applied it once at the start of the day - so all that swimming in very salty water and it still stayed working.
Spray on is easier to apply.
We bought a bottle of Banana Boat Gel when on hol in the US about 20 years ago. Amazing stuff, you only need a tiny bit, so I still have the bottle and it still sunblocks! Banana Boat's reputation seems to have taken a bit of a dive since then...
https://gizmodo.com/banana-boat-sunscreen-might-set-you-on-fire-5953330
There’s no such thing as a good cheap sunscreen; the materials like titanium dioxide, which protect you from UV are expensive so the better the sunscreen the more expensive it should be.
TiO2 is dirt cheap. Titanium is expensive because refining it and working it into sheets, tubes or billet is expensive but the oxide is a very cheap commodity, it's used to whiten everything from paper and paint, to cake icing.
Rough calculation, £100/ton, 0.01p/g, 10% concentration so in a 200ml bottle that's 0.2p.
There's other ingredients but the costs are manufacturing, distribution, marketing and retail, the bulk chemicals going into it are relatively cheap.
Think I'm qualified to comment on this! Red by name... When I was a child, I was the only one on the beach wearing a long sleeved white shirt - And I was brought up on the beach. I've always covered up, worn long sleeves and rash tops, 3/4 shorts, hat etc, and epicyclo is correct, clothing is better protection. But...
The single biggest advance in sunscreen is the spray on and non-wipe Clear Protect sunscreens by Ambre Solaire. they are non-greasy and do not stain overly (white shirts will suffer at the collars). When they first came out in SPF10 I used those regularly, now they are up to 50. They are not cheap, but neither is research and development. P20 is highly thoughtof too, but greasy and stains the clothes more. When sprayed on, they achieve the tested concentrations, and that is teh vital part, most people don't add enough of the creams.
As for exposure to nasty chemicals, a study sponsored by the FDA showed recently higher han anticipated exposures, which is interesting, but nothing untoward. This was an argument about what is "generally regarded as safe".
I have not been sunburnt in years (with the exception of a 12hr TT when my skinsuit was thinner than I expected!), have had skin cancer, and lost half my family to it.
another for Ultra Sun, not cheap but it is a genuine once a day application. Used the Ultra Sun Sport cycling across europe on the TCR and didn't get burnt once. Applied when I woke up and that was it for the day. Also you could try sun sleeves from Morvelo or what ever to cover your arms, also gives you somewhere nice to wipe the sweat.
The single biggest advance in sunscreen is the spray on and non-wipe Clear Protect sunscreens by Ambre Solaire
Uhhhh no. They have terrible UVB rating.
Uhhhh no. They have terrible UVB rating.
Sprayed at the recommended distance I can attest that they offer all the protection that this MC1R homozygote, who has never tanned, burns in minutes and had a nonmalignant basal cell carcinoma removed#, requires. Even the SPF10 is effective. I keep a bottle in the car at all times, and in the race bag, and other places.
Oh and I trained the kids to close their eyes tightly witha finger across, then sprayed it directly onto the face. AS I said the protection is excellent. Even for the top of the head - although I wear a hat mostly.
#funny thing was it was on the body which is never exposered to sun - I even used to swim in the sea in my white school shirts, and even now never go without a rash top. Ever.
Worth a listen:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07ffghy
UVB stars aren’t all they seem, it’s a proportional rating to the spf so you can’t compare like for like star ratings on spf 30 vs50. I was always confused by that.
Ultrasun sport gel or p20 here, I sunburn indoors and these work.
I use the Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration factor 30.
Dunno about the silk hydration nonsense, but it's the best suncream for me from an application point of view.
I can slather it on and it's not horrible, greasy and oily.
That used to be the biggest thing putting me off bothering with suncream; I hate feeling like I have greasy/oily skin all the time so I would put off re-applying other sun creams.
The Hawaiian Tropic stuff doesn't leave your skin feeling greasy and I don't feel the need to wash my hands after using it, which I generally do with most others I've tried.
Hmmm. Although. Just looked at the pack and only 3 stars for uva....maybe I need to re-think.
Uhhhh no. They have terrible UVB rating.
Just googled it, as I'd just assumed it was all good (I only ever use the kids 30+ stuff) apparently to get the uva + uvb symbol it has to have at least 1/3 the protection against uva as it does uvb and the spf on the front is referring to uvb. Getting more stars means the uva is proportionally better.
So either my googling is wrong or you're mistaken.
I used to work in this area, and the UVA bit is the bit to worry about if you can't understand all of it. The SPF rating is all about exposure and reddening effect on the outer layers of skin and that is caused by uvb. In turn that can lead to skin cancer but we are somewhat self limiting in that we can see the effect exposure is having and do something (like get under cover)
UVA penetrates more deeply and until relatively recently wasn't thought to have a role in skin cancers. That is wrong. But you can't see the effect in the same way as uvb.
So - you could in theory have a very high SPF sunscreen with virtually no uva protection if you used only filters that absorb uvb. And get cancer despite never getting burnt. Equally you can get a high star rating based on ratio but with a low overall absorption capability (low SPF). You need ideally both high SPF and high star rating, but if you have to compromise go high star / low spff because the low SPF in the end will force you to limit exposure. Unless you're an idiot.....