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Sunscreen is very important.
Amy Marturana
Since sunscreen is regulated by the FDA, every bottle has the same instructions on the back.
The first mandate is: “Apply liberally 15 minutes before sun exposure.”
What does “liberally” mean, you might ask?
Once you start squeezing into the shot glass, you feel like it’s never going to end.
One ounce doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is a lot.
More than I’ve ever ventured to slather onto my body.
As we walked out of the house, I started my two-hour timer.
(Apparently adequate sunscreen makes you gain 10 pounds of lotion weight.)
The beach was 90 billion degrees.
I legit felt like I was melting, and the heavy layer of sunscreen did not help.
And so began the calculus to figure out how I could justify not putting it on yet.
And I definitely had not been swimming for anything close to 80 minutes.
That said, I had been sweating nonstop all day.
Therefore I could just wait until the timer went off.
Since I was out in the sun and wasglisteningthe lotion wasn’t rubbing in quite as nicely.
I did my best.
About 45 minutes after the second tool with the temps pushing 100, we decided to head out.
Since it was so hot, we honestly just wanted to be inside in the AC.
I never got a third tool in.
But my skin felt drenched in lotion all day.
Even inside when I was no longer sweating, I felt almost weighed down.
I couldn’t wait to shower and get this stuff off me.
And it was very nice sunscreen that wasn’t excessively greasy.
The way it was, I used about half the bottle.
I typically get a whole bottle to last me a week of beach days, if not more.
I honestly think I used two bottles of sunscreen the entire summer of 2015.
But they’re based on science, backed by experts, and meant to keep us safe.
Honestly, sunscreen instructions are actually good motivation to spend less time in the sun.
