How to tell if your suncream is out of date – and where to buy bottles from just £1
A sunscreen could have a shelf life of up to two years, as long as it’s not stored at high temperature or direct sunlight
THE one thing we should be doing during the heatwave is using sunscreen.
Suncreens protect us against sunburn, which is not only painful but also raises your risk of developing skin cancer. Question is, how can we know if they've gone bad?
Sunscreens do expire and most of them should come with an expiry date stamped on the bottle.
This will be represented by a little “open jar” icon – formally known as the Period After Opening (PAO) - which tells you how long the product will stay good after the package is unsealed.
You might have seen these logos on face creams or make-up products, they are the little-known way to tell how long an item will last.
The time period is almost always shown in months and appears as a number followed by the letter ‘m’, either inside the jar graphic or next to it.
For example, if it says ";12" in the logo it means the suncream will be effective for 12 months from when you open the bottle.
According to the NHS, a sunscreen could have a shelf life of up to two years, as long as it’s not stored at high temperature or direct sunlight.
Still the NHS advises anyone using sunscreens to check the bottle for an expiry date first.
Using the product after the use-by date means you won't be protected from the sun's harmful rays.
Sun cream that starts from just £1 a bottle
Poundland
The budget shop stocks a range from , which is available online and in in its stores across the UK for £1.
Tropical Sun lotion SPF 15, 100ml - £1
Tropical Sun lotion for kids SPF 30, 65ml - £1
Tropical Sun lotion SPF 30, 65ml - £1
Poundland also stocks products from the :
Malibu Face Cream SPF 30 40 ml - £1
Malibu Face Cream SPF 50 - £1
Malibu Lotion SPF 20 100ml - £1
B&M Bargains
B&;M Bargains stocks products from the available in store and online for 50p
EAD Sunscreen Lotion Factor 15 120ml - 50p
Other low-cost branded sun creams
Piz Buin 1-day-long lotion SPF 30, 100ml - £4.99 at
Are budget sunscreens safe to use?
IT'S easy to assume that if an item is expensive then it's of better quality - but that's not always the case.
A survey from consumer group Which? recently found that an Avon’s Sun+Multi Protection Moisturising Sun Lotion SPF30 - the most expensive sunscreen in a poll of leading high-street brands - failed to provide the protection it claims.
The consumer group labelled it the £10 product a “Don’t Buy”.
In comparison, cheaper brands and supermarket-own lotions passed the tests.
Before buying a sun cream it's worth doing your research, for example, asked the British Skin Foundation (BSF) charity and the Cosmetic Toiletry & Perfumery Association (CTPA) trade body to find out if pricey sunscreens worked better than budget ones.
Both said customers shouldn’t be put off by lower prices as long as they check a few things first:
- The UVA rating: This rating you how much protection the product is giving you from harmful long-wave ultra-violet UVA rays. Some bottles have a star rating (the BSF recommends four or more stars) - while others don't, they should at least contain a circle with the letters UVA inside, as this indicates the minimum level of UVA protection.
- The SPG rating: The sun protection factor indicates the amount of protection offered against UVB, which is the main cause of sunburn. The higher the number, the better level of protection.
A sunscreen with an SPF of 30 and a UVA rating of 4 or 5 stars is generally considered as a good standard of sun protection in addition to shade and clothing.
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