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

I take one for face and one for body.
I don't like the heavy spf50 creams on .y face so use one specifically for face.
I have never used one for my scalp, but I have a decent head of hair

What's the point of having a mist and cream?

Unless you're going to a erd world country, you can buy what you need there. They sell all the same brands.

I have multiple allergies and have to read the labels on suncream meticulously. The adult and child sun creams that are safe for me to use have exactly the same ingredients. They are often identical products from the same companies but simply with different labels on the front. The products are completely interchangeable.

Is that actually true? Am I the only one that just buys basic Nivea spf 30 and uses that for everyone?? If the regular stuff has ingredients that are not approved for kids shouldn’t they be putting a warning on the bottle?

Altruist do a litre pump pack of suncream which is great for hot holidays

I take 30, just cos I like to get a tan but 50 is definitely safer and I should definitely start wearing 50!!

I last went for 2 weeks to the Caribbean and took 1 factor 50 and 1 factor 30 still had a lot left when I came home, one would have been enough

Baseball cap instead of scalp spray and actually a lot of holiday pools abroad now require swimming hats so that would cover you there

I’m not going to a hotel

I use whatever’s available at home to be fair, if it’s kids it’s kids

What a strange response.

I’m mainly willing to risk it because of sensory issues mainly, and I said a mist for my face because it’s what you use to re-apply in the day?

The mists are shit! My sons burnt for the first time in his life today (hes 13) and its because we switched to a mist over a cream. He was sprayed twice in 5 hours.

To back up what someone else said, a few years ago we ran out of sunscreen while in Majorca and had to buy a bottle locally and since then I’ve had quite bad allergies to certain products that I had used for years, and I now get prickly heat rash too. So always err on the side of taking too much!

Per person one bottle of spf30 per week
SP50 one bottle as slap it on my face and any sensitive areas

That's what DH says and he works for a cosmetics company and is a chemical engineer.

Yeah you still need to rub in the sprays. A friend of mine got SO burnt not doing that.

I take my own SPF 50 for face. Honestly it's so good I often don't bother to reapply (but also see below)
Usually about 2-3 standard size bottles for our family of 4 for a week. One bottle for a week would do me.

BUT - I usually sit in the shade, cover up most of my body if I am in the sun - certainly shoulders - wear a hat and even use a sun parasol if it's really hot, so I'm not slathering on cream three times a day all over. DC and DH are the same. I will reapply cream after the pool if I need to, eg if I'm likely to be exposed to the sun again. I wear a rash vest in pool / sea if it's hot part of day.

I find it less faff to sit in the shade or wear a cover up than I do slathering my entire body in suncream tbh.

OP I was in 34C+ for 2 weeks (pale, use retinol). I had a cream spf in the morning, and a facial spray mist for on the go that worked on scalp and face. Little bottles of each of those were plenty, you really don’t need as much as you’re taking!

We’re going to Lanzarote in a few weeks, me, DP and two kids. One tans well and the other is ginger with ginger skin.
Taking 5 bottles of SPF 50 and I use a SPF powder on my parting and a facial SPF 50 moisturiser anyway.
The kids will be in long sleeved rash vests and baseball caps and I have a wide brimmed hat.

Sounds about right, OP.

i like the sprays you can use over makeup for top ups throughout the day.

oh, maybe you should add an SPF lip balm?

@nothingbeatsajet2

I spray the top mist onto a powder puff then daub it onto my face. Pretty sure that gives good coverage as I can feel it. If I look a bit greasy with it, I’ll powder over the top lightly.

I do need to find one, that doesn’t taste gross and is actually hydrating

Didn't bring any this year. Just brugt a 30 and 50 bottle at destination.

I buy the Aldi spf30 cream for me and DH. For a 2 week holiday to Greece we take 6x250ml bottles and 2 of the spf30 sensitive facial suncream split over two suitcases. Yes it might seem excessive to some but the formula suits us both - some sunscreens bring me up in a rash. We both reapply frequently, especially when we are away and I would sooner have more than we need rather than take a chance. It's also far more expensive at the airport or in resort. Anything unused (and it is usually only one bottle) I bring home as we use it in the UK in the garden or when we're out and about.

We're cruising to the eastern Mediterranean in September and I will be upping the ante and taking spf50 as we will be taking in places like Egypt and Tunisia.

We took 1x factor 50 and 2 x factor 30 for a week, returned with 1 factor 30. No sunburn for any of us. DD always wears sunsafe swimwear for pool and beach days though so that reduces our suncream use substantially abroad compared to her being smothered every day for school/park/days out. We all wear hats too. I also have a factor 20 facial moisturiser I use daily.

It sounds like enough. Is it a high UVA rating?

No idea, it’s all la Roche posay, Nivea and soltan