613 Comments
User's avatar
TakingAmes's avatar

Beef tallow. Just. Why?

Mark's avatar

Again, the most effective sunscreen is the one you will use every day, so if you know you are not going to get around to ordering it online, just get whatever you like from the store.

Or, if you constantly forget to pick some up at the store, despite making shopping lists, just get whatever you like online!

Personally I spend a lot of time in the full Georgia sun, exerting myself. I wear a broad-brimmed hat, often with cloth that drapes over the neck. I get soaked with sweat and often take my shirt off but I don't wear sunscreen.

Unfortunately have failed to train the cat to apply an even coat to my back.

I don't get sunburn. I do have to worry about heat exhaustion so I take frequent breaks to sit under my beautiful birch and hydrate. What the hell I makes it difficult to garden it because by 2 pm it's shading out fully half of my backyard, so I figure it owes me....

Oh, and taking the shirt off once it's saturated is kinda necessary because the saturation both cannot absorb any more sweat, and t impedes evaporation badly.

Free beach's avatar

That is unusual for Bobby brainworm to approve anything safe. Clearly he’s opposed to those controlled by big sunscreen

kmblue187's avatar

Thanks for this, Robyn. Maybe the tanmaxxers don't know in addition to skin cancer, they're buying deep wrinkles for their future.

PS: My father died of malignant melanoma...golf, before ill effects of sun were known. I'm fish belly white, meself.

Nicole Koretsky's avatar

Yes to all of this. I jumped on the Korean bandwagon a few years ago and I order my sunscreen directly from the manufacturer and or through legit retail sites that sell the Korean formulations.

I was never a baby-oil and aluminum foil sun worshipper in the 80s, as were many of my peers, but I didn't protect myself enough until my 30s, when I began slathering Neutrogena sunscreen on. There are great products out there that aren't crazy expensive (step back, Supergoop, ffs) and I'm thrilled to read about this country moving into the early 21st century, a quarter of a century late, but better than never. Entering my mid 50s I'm seeing evidence of photoaging I could have avoided, and while my annual derm checkups show me free from skin cancers I have no idea what is in store going forward (I'm very pale, and oh boy). Just as we beg people to get their paps and mammos and colonoscopies, use sunscreen every single day, and as your joints stiffen with age, go get checked by your local derm. It's not about keeping your youthful skin (though you will for longer if you use sunscreen) but about health.

It breaks my heart to read about Gen Z risking their futures for a tan.

Thanks for the nice news.

Jessica's avatar

Coming to you from the world capital of melanoma is Sunbutter Sunscreen, which is reef-safe and also vegan, if that is relevant to you

Salty Badger's avatar

Having had four skin cancers carved off me, who had severe sunburns as a kid — sunscreen in 1968? HA! — I slather that shit on now. BEMT means no reapplication every 90min and it's much broader spectrum than the stuff we have now.

Seek's avatar

I hate chemical sunscreen for the smell, consistency and just how sticky it makes you. I guess it’s fine for some people but if you’re outside near dust and sand you basically just get this gross crust. I just skip it and use the mineral sunscreen (tinted on my face) and skip to that state. I love it now that it comes in spray on.

Fender Deluxe's avatar

Maybe we should stop referring to the Secretary of HHS by his initials. Camelot is dead. Stop trying to continue it.

Dorothea is a Democrat's avatar

Nobody refers to anything except by initials these days. If they didn't, they'd have to type the whole word! Screeeeech!

pskbh's avatar

Sorry, totally OT!

pskbh's avatar

Yeah I'm tired of the insipid acronyms. I use some occasionally, but if I have to stop what is being written and dictionary some gobbledygook, you've lost me. I've moved on to someone who has something to say.

Anzu's avatar

If you want some good deep dives on sunscreen, I recommend the YouTube channel Lab Muffin Beauty Science. She has a PhD in chemistry and has made it her personal mission to debunk bad sunscreen information. (She also has a really nifty book called the Science of Beauty that has cool illustrations of how things like hair conditioner work.)

Lizzy Leww's avatar

Thank you, Robyn, for keeping us up to date!

noname's avatar

The Substandard is fubar again.

Mavenmaven's avatar

Hilarious, Knicks fans are burning sage outside Madison Square Garden to exorcise the "Trump Curse"

devourerofpancakes's avatar

Holy smokes. From the Garnier link: Prepaid Import Duties, Taxes & Fees $41.62

For 20$ worth of sunscreen. Fuck Trump.

coco lurks from home's avatar

It's about $27 if you have Prime. It's called Garnier Ombrelle but it's the same product.

devourerofpancakes's avatar

I was just explaining to my SO that the reason we have a bunch of little bottles of sunscreen (Nivea Super Water Gel) is because they are the good sunscreen I can only find on amazon in little bottles.

Aileen's avatar

My cosmetic dermatologist (yes, I have one for vanity and one for keeping me cancer-free, I'm Of a Certain Age) recommended a Korean line, Scinic. I lurrrve it. It's affordable despite tariff bullshit, effective and actually makes my skin look better.

Biff52 Lost Canadian's avatar

I have a dermatologist that I see for quarterly full body checkups. About half the time they find something to biopsy, and half of those come back dirty for squamous cell carcinoma. I can't count how many I've had excised over the years.

My problem with sunscreen is that I'm a hairy guy and I can't stand greasy sunscreen. I guess I should ask her.

Aileen's avatar

I seriously love Scinic! Not at all greasy, and I know and loathe that feeling myself. And it's scent free so wouldn't be weird for the average guy to use. At least it's squamous cell; still cancer and you still need to get it taken care of, but not the scary fast spreading melanoma.

Biff52 Lost Canadian's avatar

Thanks for the rec!

I’ve lost two friends to squamous cell. It’s not harmless if you let it slide. It will metastasize, if left to its own devices. Hence my quarterly checkups!