Why did'nt the suncream I have used all summer work today.

[waterfalls]

Dts were playing in the garden and pool today (as usual) were rugulary smothered in suncream factor 30, but they have burned from head to foot.
They seem ok, Have given them a cool bath, smothered them in sudacreme, and given them calpol before bed.
They were'nt in the sun any longer than usual, and its not been as hot as other days, so why did'nt the suncream work?

How long have you had the suncream for?

combination of the water reflection and the wind maybe? which cream is it?

Its nivea for children, factor 30 and waterproof, bought it about 6 weeks ago.

if they're quite pale, an extra 20 mins between slatherings can make the difference between burning and not burning when it's really hot.

Read a year or so ago that Boots Soltan lotion is the only sun-cream that's actually been tested for its factor rating.

No.... suncreams are tested about every other year by the which magazone...

this year that ones that did well were

ambre solaire
Piz buin
Loreal

the ones that did badly and provided much less spv than on the bottle were boots soltan wilkinsons (the worst) and tesco.... (but there was aporblem with that test)

ok ones included Superdrugs own brand... and something else

it seems very odd that your sun cream didnt work.... have you left the bottle in the sun recently (maybe in a hot car or something... whre it can get REALLY hot?) cause that can stop it working.

My pale little charge was outside pretty much constantly from 10 - 4 today.... she was smothered in a mix of ambre solaire kids 30 and nivea for kids 50 (but them we were in the pool ages and im assuming that (nivea 50) washed off) she didnt burn!

NannyL-Youve worried me now because i have the boots soltan one.Is it bad?

Could they have been rolling around on the grass or something and rubbed the sunscreen off?

DS1 has just come back from 10 days in S Spain; he was mostly really good and careful with sunscreen, but they went to a water park the day before they came back, his sunscreen got washed off and he is really badly burned on his shoulders because of it.

Put them in Tshirts next time? Hope they are not too bad in the morning, poor things

I have recently read that Boot Soltan is one of the worst - it's factor 15 came up as only 6.5.

Yes I suppose the best thing is to keep them covered up with a t/shirt, they have never burned before,I am a bit annoyed with myself now for relying on the sunscreen to do its job, am dreading them waking up in a state in the morning.

I'll try and find the report...

i remeber that the boots one was one of the worst...

they basically had 3 catagories
Good:
Ambre solaire
Piz Buin
Loreal

(i think they were the ONLY ones... whose sunprotection factor was as or more than stated on the bottle)

Ok ones
including Superdrugs own brand

• 2 others i cant remeber

Bad ones.... who gave far less protection then on the bottle:
Boots soltan
Wilkinosns (was by FAR the worst)
Tesco...
and quite a few more that i cant remember

Which Best Buys (at SPF 15):

Garnier Ambre Solaire Moisturising Protection Milk
Lancome Soleil Soft-Touch Moisturising Sun Lotion
L'Oreal Solar Expertise Advanced Protection Lotion
Piz Buin In Sun

Other OK brands:

Nivea SUN Moisturising Sun Lotion
Superdrug Solait Suncare Sunshine Defence
The Body Shop Protect It! Sun Lotion for Body

I have factor 30 kids boots soltan.Will it be ok if i just put it on morte often? They all tan so no worries of red burning but annoyed that boots come up bad

These are the don't buys (again labelled as SPF 15)

Malibu High Protection Lotion
Our SPF rating: 6.9
Malibu says it has re-tested the lotion and found it exceeded SPF15.

Boots Soltan Sun Lotion
Our SPF rating: 8.7
Boots says it has re-tested the lotion and found it exceeded SPF15.

Wilkinsons Wilko Sun Protection System
Our SPF rating: 6.3
Wilkinsons says it will retest the lotion and expects it to pass.

One sun screen that also failed our test
Asda SUN SYSTEM Lotion
Our SPF rating: 11.5
Asda says the lotion has been reformulated, but exceeded SPF 15 in its own tests.

What about Tesco?
The store's own tests on their sun screens confirm our findings.

We originally included Tesco's Sun Protection Lotion in our tests. The sun screen wasn't in the shops when we started testing, so Tesco sent us a bottle. We found it had an SPF of just 9.2.

But when we alerted the company to our findings, it said it hadn't tested the sun screen itself before sending it to us. When Tesco did test the sun screen, it too found the SPF was nine.

Tesco says it has been selling the formulation we tested as SPF8.

The makers of the other Don't Buy sun screens have refuted our findings but we're pleased that Tesco took action when its product failed its tests.

tortoise, they only tested factor 15 - your factor 30 may be as labelled. It is annoying, I agree.

Thanks for that.Suppose they cant test all spf's.I will just slap it on my 4 extra think!

Thanks for finding that JanH

with the tesco one... they asked tesco for factor 15...

tsco gave them a sample.... it came out as factor 9... when they told tesco tesco said they made a mistake and actually gave them factor 8

i use soltan on milky white dd and she has been fine. she doesn't go out between 11.30 and 3 though which probably makes a difference. god this is a minefield. the soltan was a panic purchase after the 'organic' stuff brought her out in big red weals (sp?). sorry to hear about your dts waterfalls.

ive always used boots soltan 50+ or factor 60 since my child has sun allergies and used to burn through other lotions even though they were high factors.ive never had any problem with soltan and i burn easily.if there was a mojor problem with the spf surely they'd make them take it off the shelf? dont know how that stands? anyone?
as long as its reapplied often and the children are covered up abit then it should be fine.i always us sunhats with material at the back to protect their necks.i hate seeing children brown with tans and their parents saying they dont burn.what is a tan if it isnt their skin burnt by the sun? ust my opinion.everyone has the odd day when things go worng, dont beat yourself up about it.just keep reapplying and cover up as much as possible.

mum and loving ti I agree with you

I Burn REALLY easily too..... and im always pale white and NEVER tan.... but then i always use very high factor childrens suncream...

this year i went away for 2 weeks.... after moaning that i never ever tan and ALWAYS look bright white my sister said use a lower factor suncream...

so just before i went away i bought wilkinsons factor 15 sun cream.... the one that was the worst of the whole lot!... For 2 weeks i sunbathed nearly every day for several hours at a time. I didnt birn at all.... and did get my 1st ever hint of a suntan (well if you looked carefully i had a watch mark!)

whilst i wont buy it again i didnt have a problem with it either!

I think the point is... it may say factor 50... when tested it could be factor 40... hence "wrong" BUT factor 40 is still a very high SPF...

about 10 years ago i dont think you could even buy anything more than factor 20 anyway.... and factor 50 has only been around for a few years as well!

When i was little factor 15 was the highest there was... i was always smothered in it as a child as well, but loads of people used lower number like 12 and 8 then as well, even on the children...

also then sun cream was SOOO expensive

No mention of the Johnsons one. I bought the factor 30 - no problems with that and very reasonably priced too. Also can recommend AVON suncreams - they do a great factor 50 which glides on easily (some of them are really thick at 50 aren't they). Anyway, hate Nivea, love Piz Buin but it's too expensive for me! Superdrug ones are fine too IME.

nannyl get one of those moisturisers with self tanning. i used the olay one this week and am now a danger on the roads as i drive along admiring my lightly sun kissed arms.

pesme - PSML at your admiring your arms. I'm the same!!