There’s a story going around that Honest sunscreen, from Jessica Alba’s company, has not been living up to what it’s supposed to be doing. Parents are complaining that their children are still getting sunburned even though they supposedly reapplied every hour. Now, I don’t use that brand of sunscreen, but if you noticed your kid was getting red after being in the sun, wouldn’t you be mad if you were using sunscreen? Supposedly, Honest reduced the amount of zinc oxide from 20% down to 9.3%. Since zinc oxide is one of the better ingredients for sunscreen, it seems a bit odd to reduce that ingredient but still claim the same amount of sun protection.
And the other horrific story going around is of the little kids who got second and third degree sunburns from an excursion to a waterpark in Oklahoma. Their day care operator took them there, did not provide sunscreen, and then stated that the boys got that badly burned because they didn’t leave their shirts on. Umm, really? You mean to tell me that any reasonable adult would think that a 7 and 5-year-old have any idea the consequences of too much sun exposure? And that a 7 and 5-year-old would keep their shirts on at a waterpark? The photos in the story are so heartbreaking. I cannot even imagine the pain of those burns.
And the sad thing is that their chance of developing skin cancer from that just went through the roof. For heaven’s sake, buy sunscreen that works and use it. Even if it’s just to prevent someone you love from suffering from sunburn.