While sunscreen may not be the most exciting of camping-related topics, it is among the most important! Here are 10 common misconceptions about sunscreen.
Misconception #10. SPF 60 has four times the sun protection of SPF 15.
Fact: SPF protection does not actually increase proportionately with a designated SPF number. Look at the Percentage of Protection from damaging UV rays:
SPF 15 = 92%
SPF 30 = 97%
SPF 40 = 97.5%
As you can see, the difference in UV ray protection in SPF numbers becomes minimal as the number increases past about 30 or 40.
Misconception #9. Many people think that SPF values can be added.
Fact: Actually, SPF values cannot be added – if you apply a sunscreen of 8 and then one of 12, you will not have the protection of an SPF 20. You will only be getting the protection of an SPF 12.
I post this in the Category: Camping Safety because it’s about sunscreen and you know how important that is when you go camping.
On June 1, 1997, a young journalist, Mary Schmich, wrote a column in the Chicago Tribune titled “Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young”. She introduced the column as the commencement address she would give if she were asked to give one.
Her essay became famous world-wide when Baz Luhrmann – director of “Romeo & Juliet”) turned it into a #1 music single as “Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen”. You may even have heard the song and laughed at its litany of humorous but practical advice. Excerpt below:
Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’97
Wear Sunscreen
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proven by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience…I will dispense this advice now.
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Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
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Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
… Read more
