to expect factor 50 to work

[McHappyPants2012]

sat here looking like a lobster, i love the sun so applied the cream regularly and still got burnt

aibu to think factor 50 should not leave your skin still burning in the night

What brand is it?

How old is it?

How did you store it?

I'm allergic to the sun so have to wear factor 50 but I find if I don't keep it in the shade, it goes thin and runny and doesn't work as well.

Well, they did a survey of differen brands a while back ...

Some of them did what they claimed - i.e. blocked to the level of protection that was stated on the bottle - and others didn't.

How often did you re-apply?

45 minutes to 1 hour.

it was nivea and it was opened today as i always buy new bottle at the begining of summer

Was it old? Did you apply enough? You have to use quite a lot to get the maximum level of protection. Apparently the SPF halves for each year it's stored. So if it's last year's bottle and you used a 'normal' amount you could have had something closer to a factor 10 protection.

Also, factor 50 only works to multiply the amount of time you can safely spend in the sun without burning. If you can normally spend 1 minute in the sun without burning, factor 50 should mean that the time is increased to 50 minutes (provided it's a new bottle and you apply enough and reapply frequently). It does not mean that you can sit in direct sunlight for hours on end and expect not to burn.

How long does it take you to burn with no suncream? Multiply that by 50 and were you out for longer?

X-posts - take it back! Could be a faulty batch?

Have a look at this site - gives an brief explanation and higlights the od misconception:

sunscreen

Basically - you need to re-apply very frequently, even with high numbers and remember the test subjects used far more sunscreen than most consumers do.

If you burn very easily you are better just exposing yourself to the sun for 10-15 minutes then getting into shade.

You need some sun (15-20 minutes per week) to produce Vitamin D though.

trestle i don't know, i have blonde hair so always burn easy so always put cream on.
perhaps i didn't put enough on

highlights the odd - my typing is all skew-whiff tonight!

I am a pale blonde too. Ignore the crappy sunscreen and stay in the shade, with a big hat. Scratch that. Just stay indoors four months of the year. I'm not bitter. Honest.

Dd burns with 50plus sunscreen after a few minutes. The only one i found any good was one i used when i was young (so my mum says) and that is Uvistat, although i had to buy it online. It is available at some chemists. Its quite thick but it worked and apparently it used to be on prescription.

Are you sure you haven't reacted to the sunscreen itself?

When I was in Israel I managed to burn horribley while sitting in the shade and wearing factor 60

I have read numerous reports that suggest that anything claiming to be over factor 25 is a bit of a con - I'll try to find a link later, dd is returning with a book!

Ok, I sort of stand corrected, but the difference is quite small. this article seems to say what most say,

According to Spencer, an SPF 15 product blocks about 94% of UVB rays, an SPF 30 product blocks 97% of UVB rays, and an SPF 45 product blocks about 98% of rays.

?After that, it just gets silly,? he says.

Doesn't seem much difference to me....

Try sunblock rather than sunscreen?

DD has uvistat on prescription as most sunscreens give her really bad eczema and make her eyes swell. It's really good but it's so thick it doesn't soak in, it just sits on her skin.

Sympathy to you, from a fellow pale person.

All the explanations here sound plausible, and I'd add that presumably you haven't been out in the sun for a while. So you won't even have had the little bit of protection you might build up over the course of a summer. Honestly though, I think that for those of us who need factor 50, factor 50 isn't enough, if that makes sense. There is some skin that just isn't meant to be exposed to bright sun!

All factor 50 means is that you will take 50x longer to burn, but if it's hot enough for you to burn in 5 mins, then f50 will only protect you for 250 in that day and that is with it being liberally applied regularly.

did you buy it in uk? just asking as there was a scam somewhere abroad where they had filled up suncream bottles with cheap body lotion and people were burning all over the place.

Suncream bought from abroad often only protects against either UVa or UVb whereas suncream produced for the UK usually will do both. Always buy from a reputable retailer to avoid cheap imported goods. If you did so, and you don't normally burn badly and easily then I would complain in case it was a dodgy batch. At teh very least it will alert the company involved to a possible problem.