I love a good deal. Doesn't everyone? And I know that there shouldn't be a limit when it comes to taking care of your skin, but with two kids there is not a lot of room in my budget to dedicate to expensive skin care products. So, whenever I need more sunscreen, I tend to get the cheapest bottle, or the ones that are on sale.
Unfortunately, that means that most of the time I am surprised by the sunscreen I choose. Sometimes its too oily, it takes too long to apply/reapply, it smells GROSS, it becomes white again as I sweat or get wet, you name it! So, I decided I would test some out.
I went to Walgreens and I went straight to the sunscreen display at the front. You can't just pick up any old sunscreen, or just choose based on price. You should always follow the American Cancer Society's recommended guidelines for sunscreen selection:
Broad Spectrum Protection (Protects from UVA and UVB rays)
SPF 30 or higher (Filters out 97% of the UV rays)
Water resistant for up to 80 min
I chose the five most commonly available brands that met these guidelines and that were under $15: Sun Bum, Neutrogena, Walgreens Sport, Banana Boat, and Coppertone Sport. They happen to be having a BOGO 50% off sale for all sunscreens, and I have the loyalty card that gets me an additional 20% off, so I saved a lot even with the bottles being under $15 each.
Here is the cost break down:
Normally these five bottles would have cost around $58, but with my discount and the sale I saved over $20 and only spent $36.75 on the 5 bottles. Woot Woot!
To test these sunscreens I put each on a different part of my body, then I waited for about an hour inside, then went for a mile run. I wanted to rate each one based on 5 categories: feel, smell, application, post workout, and reapplication. But before I give you my ratings, let me tell you a little bit about each one.
Walgreens Sport
This sunscreen I applied to my right leg. and was not hard to rub in at all. It had a mild smell, like you would expect a sunscreen to smell, which I don't mind at all. It was a bit tacky and oily right after application, and as it dried it was only a little oily to the touch. Overall I was really impressed by it, especially because it was not name brand and it was the cheapest.
Coppertone Sport
I had definitely used this sunscreen before, but I honestly could not remember how I felt about it. I applied this one to my left leg and it was pretty similar in feel to the Walgreens sunscreen. It was easier to rub in though, and a tad bit less tacky and oily feeling. IT SMELLED AWFUL!!!!! It had a strong, almost chemical smell. I was so glad this one was on my leg, but I could not stand it.
Banana Boat Light as Air
Banana Boat has lot of different lines of sunscreen, but they are all pretty much the same price. I chose this one because I was really excited by its promise of weightlessness. It did not disappoint. First of all the texture of it when you squeeze it out is almost like shaving cream. It feels like a regular lotion when you apply it, but it literally disappears on your skin. It did take a bit to rub in all of the way, but worth it. Once it dried it was like I hadn't put anything on my skin at all. AMAZING! And the smell is like a tropical heaven! Already I knew that I would be using this one as my daily sunscreen. I applied this one to my right arm and also chose to also apply it to my face.
Neutrogena Beach Defense
I put this one on my left arm. You can visually see how much more watery this one was compared to the others. This I think made it super hard to rub in. It didn't really have a smell at all, which I thought was weird, but for people who don't want their sunscreen scented, it would be good. This one doesn't really dry at all. It feels very heavy on your skin, and really oily. I was not thrilled about this one at all.
Sun Bum
This brand is fairly new, compared to the others, but has become super popular. It was easy to apply to my torso, chest and neck and felt very similar in consistency to the Banana Boat. It was like a airy, like shaving cream. However, once it dried, or didn't dry, it was similar to how the Neutrogena felt on my arm. It wasn't as heavy as the Neutrogena, but it was definitely oily. The smell was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO NICE! I still like Banana Boat's smell better, but this one was a close second.
Once I ran, I wanted to see how they held up during the run and then how they were when you reapplied. After my run, only two of the sunscreens became visible when I sweat: Neutrogena and Walgreens brand. As you can see, they began melting off of me during my run, Neutrogens being the worst.
When I reapplied them, there were only a couple that were more difficult after I was hot and sweaty. This is the really important thing though. Many people do not reapply their sunscreen, especially if it is a higher SPF, but IT IS SO IMPORTANT! Regardless of the SPF you must reapply every 2 hours to make sure that you are consistently protected.
The Neutrogena was again super hard to rub in, and even more so now that I was hot and sweaty. It didn't actually rub in at all when I reapplied. Banana Boat was also hard to reapply, but it eventually rubbed in. The coppertone was much harder to rub in the second time around, and Sun Bum was so much easier the second time around.
So here are my ratings for each category:
So obviously Banana Boat was my favorite even before I went on my run and I was so happy that it ended up averaging out as the best! But it was not the cheapest one (without the discount), so it is nice to know that the two cheapest ones were right behind it. I would not recommend getting Coppertone, though. I just can't get over the smell.
All this said, as long as your sunscreen is meeting the guidelines and you reapply every two hours that you are outside, that is what matters most. I just want you to wear it to protect you and your loved ones, and know that it is a simple step that you can take to prevent skin cancer.
Stay protected this summer and keep throwing that shade at skin cancer!
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