So here’s a fun fact about me: my skin is impervious to suntan lotion.  Well, not exactly impervious.  But when I put it on, five or ten minutes after it absorbs into my skin, about 25% of the suntan lotion reappears: a layer of white streaks and patches that needs to be rubbed in a second time.  It’s happened since I was a kid, and apparently it’s a genetic trait, as my mother has the exact same issue.  Still, it’s not something I think about frequently when I’m not at the beach, which is how today’s adventure unfolded.

As I’ve mentioned previously, these days I’m neck-deep in research for Composite, trying to compile the largest possible list of evidence-based health and fitness habits for our algorithm.  To that, with end-of-August vacation time upon us, I recently dove into some papers around sun exposure, trying to tease out the balance between skin cancer safety and the importance of vitamin D, along with a bunch of other similar questions.

Somewhere along the way, I found a study about the impact of suntan lotion use frequency.  Essentially, it tracked two groups: one who used suntan lotion every day, regardless of weather, and another who used suntan lotion only when they thought it was needed.  After a couple of years, the daily use group had dramatically fewer new wrinkles, brown spots, and fine lines than the as-needed suntan lotioners.

As I’m on the verge of 40, and old enough to start worrying about such things as wrinkling (and, based on some of my grandparents, I’m pretty sure I’m en route to full prune), the study struck a chord.  I decided switching to a daily moisturizer with some SPF protection in it would be cheap insurance.  So, I picked some up.  And, this morning, I applied it before heading out the door.

Sadly, in standard style, somewhere en route to work, it seems a good portion of the suntan/moisturizer then reappeared.  Which I didn’t realize, despite the puzzling ten minutes of people either averting their eyes or staring at me confusedly as they passed.  It wasn’t until I arrived at work, and headed to the bathroom to pee, that I discovered I was mangy with strange white patches.  The anti-suntan lotion superpower strikes again!

So it seems I’m back to the drawing board on this one.  Perhaps, with the right kind of suntan lotion, I’d have less of an issue; I know from beach use that the spray-on kind doesn’t tend to reappear, but it does leave me looking more glossy and shellacked than is probably suitable for daily use.  For the moment, it seems I’ll just have to risk the wrinkles.