Sunscreen Guidelines
It’s summer and that means it’s time to hit the water and the great outdoors. But before you grab your trusty bottle of sunscreen there’s something you should check first.
Just how old is your sunscreen? If you are like my family we go through a couple of bottles of sunscreen a season. This may not be the case in your household. Many people have several bottles of sunscreen floating around the house and they have no idea how old they are and if they are still any good.
When you find a bottle of sunscreen the first thing you should do is check the bottle to see if there is an expiration date. The expiration date is typically located on the back or the bottom of the bottle. If there are numbers but no date there is still hope. Just today I found a link to an article in US Pharmacist that contains a table that describes the shelf life for several different brands of sunscreen. The table also includes how to interpret what those mysterious numbers on the sunscreen bottles mean.
What I found most interesting was that there is not an easy answer that states all sunscreen is good for a certain amount of time. According to the table each sunscreen manufacturer determines their own shelf life. It does seem that many of the sunscreens are good for three years.
If you are just purchasing sunscreen one tip would be to use a Sharpie marker to write your own “use by” date. That way you can determine how long you want to use the sunscreen.
Enjoy the good life this summer!
Angela Ploetz