Considered waterproof sunscreens do not provide adequate protection. Their SPF drops by 59% after a total of 40 minutes in salted water.

Consumer Protection Group Which? conducted experiments that showed that water-resistant sunscreens dramatically lose their effectiveness precisely under the influence of salt water. Experts of the group checked the advertising claims of the manufacturers of these creams and found that their sun protection factor falls by more than 59% after a person spends 40 minutes in salted water. Experts believe that the results they obtained testify to the serious vulnerabilities of the current tests, which use immersion of volunteers in a bath with tap water and hydromassage, which stimulates moderate activity.

Only in the UK, 15,500 new cases of melanoma or skin cancer are recorded each year. Scientists fear that consumers do not make enough effort to protect their skin from sunlight. Current tests allow cream manufacturers to claim that their product is water resistant if SPF is reduced by no more than 50% after two 20-minute bathing periods. Which? argues that experts conducted more intensive tests in salt, chlorinated and rapidly moving water.

All these three states significantly more closely approximate the test of the cream to the real conditions.

The level of sun protection can fall even further, because factors such as reflection through water, heat, light, sweat, the use of towels dramatically reduce the effectiveness of sunscreens. As a result, consumers have no idea what SPF their sunscreen is after they visit the pool a couple times or bathe in the sea. It is absolutely true that it does not correspond to the figures indicated on the package.

Source: News Yu.

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