Why is U.K. sun so strong wearing factor 30 today yet still burnt

[LovelyYellowLabrador]

Applied plenty and reapplied too
plus wasn’t swimming or anything

I’m not in the uk so don’t know what your weather is today.
Might you be windburnt?
And when you say “applied liberally” is this what you meant?

Get a better brand. Use a cream rather than spray and apply liberally, and reapply (even once a day ones) but more important hats, shoulders covered etc.

Change to factor 50 ?

How long were you out in the sun for?

Is the sun cream more than a year old since opened?
We basically need to replace annually plus the after sun lotion. I have started doing this anyway. Just to be on the safe side.

How many stars are there on the bottle? Which sun cream did you use?

Sun cream needs a use-before date but I've never found one that has it.

Sunscreens have a use-by date, so no need for annual replacement, though always check the consistency, separated/watery/gritty are all bad signs. Having spent all their time in a hot glove compartment or a cold fridge is unhelpful too.

It's on the crimp of the tube, at least in Australia.

What sun?! It's rained every day where I am for about a week now and is not remotely warm.

www.paulaschoice.co.uk/how-spf-works
www.psu.edu/news/research/story/probing-question-what-does-spf-rating-sunscreen-mean/

There are similar articles and I can’t find the one I wanted but the info remains. If it takes you 10 minutes to burn then factor 30 will give to 30x that of 5 hours. Reapplication ensures you get the full 5 hours, it doesn’t give you extra time in the sun.

Assuming the OP bought her lotion in the UK all the ones I have Show the 12months symbol, I don't think they have to have a date

Is this a new thing OP or a different brand? I burn easily so this wouldn't be a surprise to me

Thank you for posting this. So many people don’t understand how spf works.

was it spray by any chance? I think the creams are better and use 50.

I hope you are alright.

It's barely rained at all in Hampshire. It rained for 10 mins yesterday and took me by surprise because I'd almost forgotten rain existed!

I think it must be six weeks or so without much rain here and we have a hosepipe ban starting on Friday.

All the grass is brown and crunchy!

If it's the stuff from Aldi in the yellow bottle, that'll be why.

We stupidly used their factor 50 stuff (having always used their kid factor 50 with no issues in the past) and we all burned.

Different days, applied more and more and still burnt.

What sun?! It's rained every day where I am for about a week now and is not remotely warm.

yeah the OP must have imagined it or perhaps there is different weather conditions depending when you are in the country. I know, mind blowing!

Oh shit, I've bought all aldi for our family holiday i abroad.

I suppose the OP could be in one of those areas of the country that has barely seen any rain since winter - what do you reckon? Or do you think MN membership is restricted to a 10 mile radius around your house?

I've seen this before about how much you're supposed to apply but I can't fathom how your skin would absorb that much? I think I apply liberally and rubbing in for ages but if I was applying a teaspoon if cream to each arm or leg I'd either be rubbing it in for 15 minutes, or covered in a greasy film of sunscreen....

Aldi stuff is fine. Which always take a number of different suncream brand and test them every year. Every year Aldi always meets higher than the spf they state other brands don’t do so well.

We have just been away - temp in 30s. No one burnt but we took other sensible precautions too.

Sun cream is only as good as your application and if you normally burn in 10 minutes, factor 30 would give you 5 hours at most. But there is always that bit where you didn't quite cover yourself well enough. Or some rubbed off on a chair or bag that will burn much sooner, at which point it doesn't matter what factor your sun cream is, you will burn and quite quickly.

Met office weather forecasts give you a uv index. They're worth taking notice of.

And I would agree normally.

but this stuff they haven't had in before (in our Aldi at least) and we all burned.

We switched to the other stuff (both factor 50) and we did not burn.

There has been a definite North South divide weather in this country. I spent the weekend in Wiltshire enjoying hot weather, whereas DH said it had rained non stop where we live in Yorkshire. It was warm and sunny yesterday and now it is raining again.

Looking at the temperatures there is a consistent 5 to 7 degree difference in the week's forecast between where we live and the South of England.

My garden is enjoying the rain (and so are the weeds that have sprung up)

It's a mystery to me why some people find the sun so strong here and need so much protection. I have very fair skin and without any protection burn very easily, within 20 mins.

However I live a very outdoors life and have never burned when factor 30 or 50 is applied once in the morning. I wouldn't go out of my way to sit in the mid day sun, will look for shade to be more comfortable when it's very hot, but am regularly outdoors for long days. I'm not bothered if the suncream is old either, I've never found it's let me down.