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| DollarWise | Don't get burned on sun protection
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Now you can get UV-protective clothing to guard your skin against the sun's rays. Is good, old-fashioned sunscreen pass, or does it still do the best job for the money?
By Jennifer Mulrean
Summer brings barbecues, beaches and, too often, blistering sunburns that can lay the groundwork for skin cancer later in life.
According to a new survey by the Sun Safety Alliance, fewer of us are slathering on sunscreen even as the incidence of skin cancer increases.
But your skin-protection options aren't limited to messy creams. You can do the following in any combination:- Stay inside (at least during midday).
- Use sunscreen and/or sun block.
- Make smart clothing choices.
- Treat your clothing with special UV-blocking laundry rinses.
- Buy newer, specialized UV-blocking clothing.
Which offers the best protection for the money?
Certainly staying inside, or at least limiting your activities outdoors between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., is the least expensive to your wallet, but what about the costs to your lifestyle? For many active outdoor enthusiasts who want more time in the sunshine, not less, this is a nonstarter. That leaves sunscreens and clothing.
Sunscreen: Go cheap
Experts agree that cheap sunscreens work just as well as the pricy varieties. So instead of buying an eight-ounce bottle of Coppertone Sport sunscreen selling for $9 at drugstore.com, consider the 16-ounce bottle of No-Ad SPF 15 sun block selling for $6.50 (both products are waterproof and sweat-proof). The important things to look for are the sell-by date (most sunscreens are only good for about two to three years) and the confirmation that it is a broad-spectrum sunscreen. This means it blocks both UVB and UVA rays.
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"Theoretically, you could have a very high SPF, which gives very good protection against UVB but no protection against UVA rays," says Dr. David Bank, dermatologist and educational spokesman for the Skin Cancer Foundation. That's because SPF ratings only pertain to the sunscreen's UVB protection, ignoring the potential harm of UVA.
Also, technology has improved for sun blocks (like the No-Ad product), so that you no longer have to sport the obvious white stripes to take advantage of them. Blocks tend to be better than chemical sunscreens, which contain PABA or Parsol 1789 and are absorbed into the skin, Bank says, because "they completely block the sun from getting in at all."
Cost: $6.50 for a 16-ounce bottle of No-Ad SPF 15 sun block
Choose your clothes wisely
Making educated choices about the ordinary clothing you wear is another cost-effective strategy. A typical white cotton T-shirt only has the equivalent sun protection of SPF 7 sunscreen, according to the American Cancer Society. When a T-shirt is wet, it loses about a third of that, not to mention the fact that there's no protection where short sleeves end or on the back of your neck. The American Cancer Society recommends using clothes with more coverage, e.g. hats, long sleeves and pants, collars that can be turned up and tighter weaves. (Kathryn Hatch, a University of Arizona professor of agriculture and biosystems engineering who studies fabric's effects on human skin, cautions that the tightness of the weave can be difficult for the average person to assess. Holding it up to a light is not reliable, she says.)
Of course, you'll have to weigh all of this against your comfort, but the following features generally mark the best blockers among your ordinary duds:- Long sleeves and pants, non-mesh hats
- Tight weaves
- Darker colors (Again, Hatch cautions that this isn't foolproof; some common black dyes do not absorb UV well at all.)
- Unbleached cotton and shiny polyesters (though NOT polyester crepe)
- Dry clothes
- Loose fitting
- Fabric that is not stretched and without holes
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