To ask how much SPF you take on a sunny holiday?

[nothingbeatsajet2]

I’m off on my first sunny holiday in a couple of weeks and I’ve just bought all my toiletries.

i’ve ordered:

1 x face spf cream for the mornings
1 x face spf mist for day to day
2 x spf sprays for mornings and after swimming
1 x mist for during the day
1 x scalp mist

all are spf 50 apart from the scalp mist as boots only sell it in spf 30

For a week I take one facial sunscreen, spf50 and Korean as they’re the best. And one of the garnier factor 50 sun waters. I won’t get through either of them. You’re wasting packing space and making your case overly heavy.

I do take a separate leave in hair conditioner with UV protection as I’m a bleach blonde, I’ll use a full bottle of that as I drench my hair twice a day.

I also take two very unflattering hats but given it is a holiday no one actually gives a toss that my hat looks terrible.

Well good news about hating hats on yourself, because melanoma stays away even if it’s just a shite £2 straw hat from AliTemu. Stop thinking about what you like, take pictures of trying about three different hats on, and ask friends you actually trust to pick a favourite. Humans are absolutely shite judges of what looks good on them. As for this whole sun cream thing, if you’re bright pink after an hour in the UK sun, you’re likely reacting to the temperature as well as the sun itself. My advice:

• Return all the expensive mists and admit to yourself you fell for marketing but you’d rather not have skin cancer

• use the money you’ve now saved to buy 1. non-greasy spf50 cream, 2. hand wipes for your bag if you’re that sensitive about non-greasy cream on your hands, 3. a shite-cheap hat you can leave in the hotel room when you come home, and 4. a handheld electric fan with misting abilities. Like I said, the temp will be worse than just the sun.

You haven’t even left yet and I can already surmise that you need to focus more on enjoying your actual vacation and less on torturing yourself until you achieve a frankly impossible Instagram-perfect sun break (all the stuff you see on Instagram about holidays is 90% fake, so love, just let it all hang out).

I'm taking 5 bottles of factor 50 for 5 people, 10 days in Spain. Plus I have a face one for me.

You can buy there but I've found it to be much more expensive and harder to know what a good brand is.

I never said I hated them, I just haven’t found one I like yet

Why so many? I have one for face and one for body. That’s enough.

should be plenty!

interested in the scalp mist? What have you gone for? Interested in getting some for my self as have a really sensitive scalp

I bought two tubes of SPF30 and a small tube of face cream 2 years ago and I still haven't finished any of them! They've been on 2 week long trips to the Med and used a few times in the UK.

Just went on a family holiday - my daughter brought F50 spray on fir her and the children as she thought it would be easier. They all got burnt on day 1 (even with rubbing it in) so she went straight back to cream which worked a treat (together with hats) 🙂

You could not send a clearer message that you read the first five words of my comment and skipped the rest. 😂 If you honest to God thought the words “good news about hating hats” was the most important bit of the post…

Excellent lesson on why you should never devote more than 15 seconds to give advice on AIBU; chances they’ll bother reading it are about 7%.

The soltan clear one! It might be awful but I wear extensions and will just wash the top section of my hair if I need to. I’m hoping to find a nice hat before then though!

Face cream for the morning, and then a mist to go on over makeup for the day. Cream spray for the morning and then mist for re-application

Thank you! I do wear hats but I struggle with them for various reasons so like the idea of a scalp spray for extra sun protection

Of course it is. I’m Australian and holiday in Bali up to twice a year and come back not one bit ‘tanner’ than when I left.

A fashionable straw fedora, cover up shirts, long sleeve high neck swimsuit, big sunglasses are my first line of defence.

I pick a lounge chair that’s fully shaded and never get in the pool when the sun is full on it.

I still manage to have a good time.

I don’t want to just sit by the pool though

It's still easy enough to stay in the shade. Parasols on the beach, stay out of the directors sun when having a meal, use the shade of buildings in cities. Wear loose clothing that keeps you covered. Hats and sun glasses help too.
If swimming don't go when the sun is strongest.

I use suncream - no where near as much as many people here- but I also use the shade as much as possible.

Still always Come back with a tan.

I didn’t know scalp mist was a thing! I sometimes get burned along my parting.

My daughter suffers too. A hat, or just put regular sun cream on. Also make sure hair covers the centre parting works.

I usually take on Factor 50 bottle for a family of 4, plus a face cream with spf. I've just started using a spf 50 face spray so next holiday I'll bring that, but in the past I never reapplied sunscreen on my face through the day as I wear makeup. We rarely reapply sunscreen through the day, we don't tend to do beach holidays and are often indoors after lunchtime as we visit indoor places like museums. We wear long sleeves and trousers/leggings and hats, so don't need to pile the suncream on.

The spf decreases over time so anything that's been open a while will likely not be giving as much protection as you think.

I take 1 x 250ml once a day spray per person per week. We apply more than once a day.

Another one here who thinks mists are an expensive, wasteful gimmick. As well as blowing anywhere but onto your body or onto furniture and floors, they run out super quick and often aerosol action malfunctions. I’m for good old fashioned creams. I could possibly be persuaded to have a facial mist for top ups over makeup if out in day. Not by a pool though.

You need at least 30ml per application and need to reapply every 2 hours at minimum. In an 8 hour day, a person will go through at least 30*4=120ml which means that a 250ml bottle is only going to last 2 days.

I know most people aren’t following the actual guidelines, but some of us are basically vampires and don’t have a choice. I have burned through my spf treated clothing.

I buy a ridiculous amount of suncream.

I buy the ‘ once ‘ sun cream , 200ml of factor 30, 200ml of 15 & then a normal same size of both 30 & 15 ,
just boots own soltan .
I always have plenty left after 2 weeks & generally leave it behind . I use the same on face & body , & usually have a hat on throughout day so don’t need scalp protector .

I’ve had the same bottle of spf 50 for the last two years, but I’m usually well covered so only put it on my face/neck and lower arms. Oh and I wear a hat, even though I hate it!

You’ve got it all wrong. In general you need a 200ml bottle per person per week so a 250ml bottle should do you for the whole trip especially if you have a separate facial one. Mists, however, do not work as well, there is massive wastage and you still need to apply the same amount you would from a normal bottle which is much harder to do from a spray when 50% of it is blowing away. If you’re fair and not used to sun you risk burning. I can just about get behind the facial one as it’s a smaller area so harder to miss bits, assuming it’s for walking around in/out the shade and not swimming but there’s no reason why you couldn’t spray your scalp while you’re at it and avoid the need for a separate product.