What many people fail to realize is that face sunscreen expires – just like any other product in existence. As such, when your sunscreen goes past its expiration date, the protective barrier it gives to your skin isn’t quite as strong as it was when it was initially created.

Consumers deserve to get the best possible value and protection from the money they spend, which is why, in this blog, we look at the measures you can take to make sure your sunscreen stays super-effective and doesn’t degrade before it’s meant to.

Extending the Life of Your Face Sunscreen

When you don’t treat your face sunscreen properly – and by that, we mean store it correctly – it can lead to the kind of degradation we’re alluding to. So, here are a few things you can do to help your sunscreen stay good for far longer. 

Keep Your Sunscreen in a Dark Place

Ironically, being left in direct sunlight can make your sunscreen break down. The UV rays damage sunscreen in the same way it hurts your skin, so you shouldn’t simply leave it out of the shade at all. That’s why you need to keep it in a cool dark place. 

Pretty much anywhere will do, so long as it’s in the shade, so you could be talking about your travel bag, a kitchen cupboard or under the bathroom sink. 

Stop Heat From Getting to Your Sunscreen

Another factor that’s known to degrade sunscreen is heat, which again means keeping it out of direct sunlight. It also means you shouldn’t keep it anywhere that might be constantly exposed to heat, such as close to your cooker or near your upstairs immersion heater.

If you do, the heat can end up separating the compounds, which then stops them from working as effectively as they might. Sure, you can shake it up before use, but over time, this will weaken it’s protective power.

Keep Your Sunscreen Away from Humid Areas

Like heat and light, moisture exposure can degrade the potency of your bottle of sunscreen. In fact, it’s left in a humid or moist environment for too long, you could even get mould growing in it – which is far from ideal. If you’re a frequent user of your bathroom for long, steamy soaks in the tub, this can degrade your sunscreen if it’s kept there for a prolonged period. 

This is also an illustration of why it’s important to put the top back on. Moisture, dirt and other impurities can get in, meaning the product inside will stop being effective sooner rather than later.

Squeezing Every Drop of Value Out of Your Face Sunscreen

Sunscreen products are designed to offer effective protection, but only when the directions on how to store them are followed. As we’ve seen in this article, when you don’t, it’s only a matter of time until these unfavorable conditions begin to degrade the product to such a degree that it leaves you vulnerable to sun damage, skin ageing and all those other nasties that come along for the ride.

It doesn’t take too much effort, of course, as all you really need to do is make sure you put yours somewhere dark, cool and put the top back on. That’s the long and short of it, so make sure you do, or you might end up with a false sense of security the next time you’re out in the sun.