P20 sun lotion

Sorry to not reply... at this point I'll have to plead amateur status and say it's worth asking a dermatologist.  However I did check out Wikipedia which says that the UVA star system was created by Boots, and 3 star is the lowest rating, 5 the highest (sounds a bit like Parker starting at 50 points, that...).  So it's got something.   Unfortunately I can't find anything on Boots.com that explains the star system in more depth.  For myself, I'm a fair skinned celt so I put on something with a higher star rating if I'm going out in serious sun.  Try looking at the links below.  hope this helps!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunscreen#Star_rating_system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunscreen  

4 Jul 2009 14:35 by Matthew Gladstone

And now on the box I notice 'UVA ***'.  ?

26 Jun 2009 12:13 by Jancis Robinson

Just had a look at Reimann's website.  No contact button but the following claim:

'The totally new formulation also offers UVA protection through highly photo-stable UVA filters that, unlike other sunfilters, retain effectiveness even on extended exposure to the sun. '

Any good or just flim flam, do you think?

25 Jun 2009 22:36 by Jancis Robinson

Thank you, Matthew, for such enlightenment.   If there's a contact button on their website I will enquire further.  Waterproofness doesn't matter too much to me, incidentally.  I'm an earth sign and believe water is for diluting the effect of wine consumption.

25 Jun 2009 22:34 by Jancis Robinson

I'd be a bit careful with this one - having lived in Brazil, researched the sun tan lotion market pretty in depth, and also been a fan of this stuff for some years... until I did my research.  Yes it's wonderful at being all day waterproof (great out surfing).  However it's pretty vague about how it good it is against UVA - which is the really damaging form of UV.  Here's the science bit...  there are 2 forms of UV - UVA and UVB.  Both are damaging.  UVB doesn't penetrate very deep, but causes visible burning, peeling etc.  The factor number on sunscreen tells you how well it protects against UVB (hence SPF 20 on this stuff).  New chemical sunscreens like this one protect well against UVB and can be made waterproof, invisible on the skin etc.  However in recent years, people have discovered more about UVA.  UVA goes deeper into the skin and is the main cause of tanning.  It's also more long term damaging and cancerous than UVB (as it goes deeper).  Chemical screens don't give much protection against UVA.  UVA protection is indicated by the number of stars on the bottle, and comes from a physical block of some kind - e.g. white zinc cream - that physically stops the rays getting in.  It's harder to make waterproof and all day but there are some creams out there... just try getting them off again at the end of the day!  So when you look at the bottle again and look at their ads you'll notice 2 things - no UVA star rating is specified and the UVA claim is vague; and the website claims "Amazingly P20 gives medium protection (SPF 20) against the sun's burning UVB rays but still lets through some UVA rays to allow you to tan"... which is a pretty accurate description of that it does. My conclusion was to use it as a base but still put on a heavy duty UVA factor cream if I was going out in strong sun...Though maybe Riemann can tell us all exactly how many stars it rates on UVA which would clear the whole thing up.Now... I need a drink   

25 Jun 2009 19:58 by Matthew Gladstone

No detail whatever on what it tastes like and no score out of 20 or 100. Huh.

25 Jun 2009 16:20 by Ben Williams

It is great but one caveat is that for those with sensitive skin the high alcohol content(!) means it can sting quite a lot on initial application.  This equally applies if you already have a bit of sunburn.

25 Jun 2009 13:34 by Charles Mason