Did you know that sunscreen expires? I did, but I forgot. Oops.
When Jason’s family was in Ohio, us older kids decided we wanted to go swimming. We get a time and a place, and we go. We get there, and I am the only one with sunscreen. No problem, I have two bottles. So we all slather up and jump in.
From 12pm to 3pm is supposedly the hottest time of day to be swimming. We went swimming from 10am to 12:30pm. So while we didn’t go during the hottest part of the day, it was 80 degrees by 10am, and that’s pretty hot.
That afternoon, several of the boys were complaining of being burnt. They were burnt, pretty badly too. I couldn’t believe it, because there were 3 of us that weren’t hardly red at all. I had been the one to put sunscreen on some of the boy’s backs, and I knew I had put it on good and thick.
What we quickly realized was, the ones who were burnt, were the ones who had used sunscreen I bought 2 summers ago. Those of us who were not burnt, had used the sunscreen I bought last summer. Needless to say, I will not be keeping sunscreen longer than 2 years.
I cannot believe how burnt they were. We hadn’t even went swimming during the hottest part of the day and I had put that sunscreen on thick. So if you have sunscreen older than 2 years, throwing it away and buying new would be a very good idea. The other tip I found online, was to put sunscreen on 30 minutes before sun exposure, and we basically put it on and jumped in.
Don’t know which kind to buy? I did a little searching online and found a site that researches sunscreens and the ingredients in them, to help you chose a safer sunscreen for you and your family. EWC’s Guide to Summer Sun.
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Hello, my name is Kendra. I am married to an amazing young man
named Jason, whom I lovingly call hubby when I’m writing. The only way I could ever explain our relationship is to use words like: crazy, silly, funny… well you get the point. He’s perfect for me! 
I realized this 2 summers ago, that sunscreen had an expiration date, so each year I just go and buy 2 big bottles from BJ’s, and a small bottle to keep in my bag when we go to the park/beach etc. Good post!
Pamela recently posted..Down Home Healthy Peach Cobbler
That’s awesome! Buying every year eliminates the risk of it expiring.
Great tips! Thanks bunches!
Jill Flory recently posted..Transformation of a Stairway
Good tip! So important too with little kids like ours. We did good this year and none of the kids got burnt on our vacation!! Phew!!! BUT there are so many chemicals in that stuff and slowly but surely i’m starting to pay attention to things like that. I’ll def try to find one that doesn’t have as much gunk it in it the next time i buy sunscreen. Just hope it WORKS!!
Kelly recently posted..WIWW – 6th Wedding Anniversary
I think that’s the hardest thing, finding something that is chemical free and works well.
I’ve read somewhere to buy new every year, but after reading this post, I started being more conscious about the expiry date on everything (I couldn’t find it on the sunscreen bottle)…like the “ready to go” coffee creamer I had in my pantry for about 8mos…I had used some yesterday (I ran out of my usual, but we’re going on vaca, so I didn’t want to purchase more) and my coffee tasted awful…then I checked the box…it had expired 3 months ago! And Pillsbury Grands in my fridge! expired!
Michelle recently posted..Rain On Our Parade
Oh dear, I don’t want to even think about how that coffee tasted!
The sunscreen that was old didn’t have an expire date on it, not that I could find any way.
I just realized why there’s no expiration date (well, possibly anyways): whatever ingredient expires is fine, as long as the bottle is unopened-once it’s opened, whatever it is activates, so that’s probably why there’s no date on the bottle itself-because the company doesn’t know when you’ll open it…
Michelle Christiansen recently posted..Rain On Our Parade