How Lifeguards Avoid Sunburns (and Treat Them When They Happen)

New York Times

2 days ago

Wearing sunscreen is an extremely important part of sun safety, but if you plan to spend long stretches of time outside, reapplying it multiple times throughout the day is just as critical as putting it on in the first place.
'Many individuals apply sunscreen when they first arrive at the beach but forget to reapply after swimming or prolonged sun exposure, which leaves them vulnerable,' Bernard Fisher, the director of health and safety for the American Lifeguard Association, told me over email. 'Sun safety is an ongoing habit, not a one-time action.'
On average, King spends anywhere from eight to 10 hours a day out in the sun. At the beginning of her shift, she slathers herself in the same sunscreen she's been using for the last ten years: Blue Lizard Sensitive Mineral SPF 50 Sunscreen Lotion.
King opts for the physical sunscreen by Blue Lizard for her skin, which can be easily irritated by the chemical sunscreens she's tried in the past. It goes on thick and can leave a bit of a white cast behind, but King said she doesn't mind because it reminds her that she's protected.
During a typical shift, she'll reapply three to four times, depending on the length of a shift and the day's UV index. (Check the National Weather Service website to see your area's UV index.) To ensure her sunscreen doesn't turn into a soupy mess, she stores it in a pouch that she keeps tucked out of direct sunlight. 'Sometimes, I'll even throw it in my lunch box so that it stays cold,' she added.
King swears by the tinted Vertra Sunscreen Face Stick SPF 38, which she says provides a skin-smoothing finish and uses it as her main source of face coverage. (We've previously reported that it's trickier to get full protection from stick sunscreens than lotions; the American Academy of Dermatology recommends four passes back and forth if you're using a stick.)
'Honestly, it kind of looks like I'm wearing makeup when I have it on,' King told me during a phone interview. 'If I have to go somewhere right after work and I still have sunscreen on my face, I don't even care because it makes my skin look amazing.'
King says the brand is a staple in the California surf community. 'Pretty much everyone that I work with uses it,' she added, regardless of their gender. The Vertra face stick comes in a handful of shades; King likes to start the season with ehukai beige, eventually switching to the kona gold later on as her skin develops a bit of a tan.
On her lips, she likes to use Vertra's Coconut Sunscreen Lip Balm SPF 15 unless 'it's a crazy high UV index day,' in which case she'll swipe her sunscreen stick directly over her lips for more protection.
Dubinski's go-to body sunscreen is Supergoop Play Everyday Lotion SPF 50, a longtime Wirecutter pick. She likes that it doesn't feel tacky or greasy on her skin, and, most importantly, she loves the way it smells. She used to dread smelling like traditional sunscreen — now she doesn't mind Supergoop's scent at all.
She wears sunscreen every day, even if she's not working. To remind herself to apply it whenever she leaves the house, she likes to keep an 18-ounce pump bottle of Supergoop Play by her keys.
'For sensitive areas — like around the hands, the tops of the knees, the backs of the ears — zinc oxide is really the way to go,' Dubinski said of her go-to Badger lotion, which is one of our sunscreen picks for physical and reef-safe protection. It still leaves behind a slight white cast, but Dubinski said that's the sacrifice she makes for highly effective zinc oxide sunscreen. 'It's not about vanity,' she said. Dubinski finds it helpful to carry a selection of sunscreens when she's working on film or television sets as an EMT. Tommi Dubinski
More often than not, the type of sunscreen that works best for any given individual comes down to personal preference. When Dubinski is on a TV or film set as an EMT, she likes to keep an array of physical and chemical options in her emergency kit, including Sun Bum Original SPF 50 Sunscreen Lotion, Neutrogena Sheer Zinc Face Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50, and Banana Boat Sport Ultra Spray SPF 30.
'I always have a selection of different types of sunscreens on hand because I know first-hand how long it can take to find a sunscreen that you actually want to wear,' she said. 'And even though I don't find spray bottle sunscreen as effective, I know that some people prefer it, so I always have [a sprayable option] because something is always better than nothing.'
Werneth also keeps spray sunscreen on hand to use in a pinch. 'I put the stuff in my hair — I fill my palm up and I scrub it into my scalp as if it were hair gel,' he said of his hack, which he employs mostly as a last resort when he knows he'll be in the water without a hat. 'My hair will come out all spiked up and I'll look like Billy Idol, you know, but I don't care.' (The Skin Cancer Foundation says hats and 'any type of sunscreen that works for your face' are your best bets for scalp protection.)