Welcome to About Sunscreen

This web site is designed to provide current, useful, objective information about sunscreen.  The information presented here was primarily drawn from the award winning book, Sun Protection for Life.

Information about sunscreens and sun lotions has often been confusing. Much has been based on an evolving understanding of the harmfulness of being exposed to ultraviolet radiation, set against a contrary cultural desire to tan.

Between the 1950’s and 1970’s, research around the world began to establish the relationship between exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and skin cancers. The public began hearing more about the need to protect skin from burning (not tanning), and pharmaceutical firms developed many new products promising sun protection.

In the 1970’s, the Sun Protection Factor (SPF) system was introduced in the United States to indicate the amount of protection from UVR offered by a sunscreen.  However, the public misunderstood it to be a method to calculate how many more hours you could be in the sun without burning. With SPF as high as 50, people assumed one application would last all day. Few paid attention to the directions to reapply every two hours, and as a consequence many burned while using sunscreen.

By the 1990’s, advertising had made people increasingly aware of the need to use sun protection, especially for children, but the whole topic of sunscreen was confusing.  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), dermatologists, and sunscreen companies argued about how high a SPF rating should go.  Furthermore, tanning salons began advertising that only UVB was harmful, but UVA was fine – an erroneous argument they continue to put forward today. Meanwhile, the FDA continued to delay implementation of labeling rules about the level of UVA protection provided by sunscreens.

In 2006, these problems came together when class-action lawsuits were initiated in California arguing that sunscreen manufacturers have made misleading claims about their products and the protection they provide.
Against that background, this web site is designed to provide clear, current, independent information about sunscreen.  It describes how UVR affects your skin, how the SPF rating system works, the active ingredients in sunscreen, how to select the best sunscreen, and the most common mistakes people make when they use sunscreen.

Our goal is to help educate readers about sun safety so they can stay protected and still enjoy the sun.