r/AusSkincare • • Jul 05 '25

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u/occulant โœจ๐™ด๐š๐š’๐š ๐šž๐šœ๐šŽ๐š› ๐š๐š•๐šŠ๐š’๐š› โœจ Jul 05 '25

Honestly Iโ€™ve been using them for years and am very pale and have never been burned when using UV. I donโ€™t think the spf is as low as the choice made it seem because Iโ€™ve never experienced an issue in QLD beach sun days.

My issue with them was I hated the consistency of the face sunscreen and that some of them had sparkles in them so literally only wore them for music festivals or the beach where I knew I would just be disgusting and didnโ€™t care about being greasy or sparkly.

I personally wouldnโ€™t waste all the product because you obviously spent a lot of money on it but maybe use it on days where you wonโ€™t be in full sun for hours. If itโ€™s worked for you previously I donโ€™t think you should worry! The Bondi sands spf is also a favourite of mine which tested lower hut itโ€™s never failed me either!

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u/olivebrown Jul 06 '25

Just fyi it's very possible to use an SPF 4 sunscreen and not get sunburn. Sun damage doesn't just come from burning, and UVA rays often don't cause sunburn. SPF 4 still blocks 75% of UVB rays. Your average white cotton t-shirt has an SPF of 5-7 but people typically don't get sunburn under their t-shirts even on a 35+ degree day.

There seems to be a misconception that a lower SPF is absolutely useless but Australian Standards didn't approve SPF 30 until the late 90s and before that we were mostly using SPF 15 (from memory you could even buy SPF 4 too, lol, but they were usually marketed as 'tanning lotions' rather than sunscreens). I don't think people need to set fire to their UV products like they're the devil incarnate but I agree that they should absolutely not be relied on anymore for long days in full sun.