Sunscreen Picks

**Brian Lehrer** (0:10)
Brian Lehrer on WNYC, Ask the Mayor with Mayor Zoran Mamdani coming up after the 11 o'clock news. Right now, you know that every Tuesday, we dig in a little on a story dealing with climate change or other aspects of public health, and today our topic is sunscreen. The risks of going without may not be as immediately threatening as Ebola or hantavirus or measles, but the long-term risks of skin cancer from overexposure are very real, and who wants the wrinkles either? There's also a viral topic online right now, which we're not going to settle in this segment, over the health risks of certain kinds of sunscreens, risks as identified by the non-profit called the Environmental Working Group, and pushback from dermatologists who, one, they risk scaring some people off from using sunscreen at all, which would be much, much worse from a public health standpoint than being too precise or too picky about what chemical is in some of them, especially when the alternatives can be significantly more expensive, the ones the Environmental Working Group prefers. But which sunscreen to choose, chemical or mineral? Those are the two big categories. How much and how strong? What about the coral reefs? Do you know how protecting them from your sunscreen might be an issue? So to talk about some of these choices, we are joined by Nancy Redd, a writer covering health and personal care at Wirecutter, a product recommendation service from The New York Times. Hey, Nancy, welcome to WNYC.

**Nancy Redd** (1:41)
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so looking forward to talking about this.

**Brian Lehrer** (1:44)
First, before we even get to sunscreen, let's establish this. Dermatologists say being in the shade or physically blocking the sun with clothing like hats or long sleeve shirts even when it's hot out or umbrellas is best. Sunscreen is for when that's not possible or you're not willing, right?

**Nancy Redd** (2:05)
Yes. So sunscreen is for the parts of your body that are not covered by protective clothing. It depends on the climate, it depends on the type of clothing. We actually have an incredible guide to sun protective clothing written by my incredible colleague, Sarah Gannett.
We as a product recommendation site have options for people who want to use chemical sunscreens, mineral sunscreens, sun protective clothing, or a combination of all.

**Brian Lehrer** (2:36)
So the American Academy of Dermatology says quote, the best type of sunscreen is the one you will use again and again, unquote. So when Wirecutter is naming a best sunscreen or several top recommendations, what are you looking for?

**Nancy Redd** (2:52)
We are looking for a cosmetically elegant sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30
Some protective factor that is for the body, water resistant and for the face, something that you can feel comfortable in all day long without feeling greasy, without feeling like you have a white cast. We enjoy testing these sunscreens on a variety of different people, skin types, skin tones, body hair, facial hair so we can find a sunscreen that will work for almost any person. Not every sunscreen will work for every person, but I guarantee that one of our picks, whether it's in our face sunscreen guide, our body sunscreen guide, or our reef safe sunscreen guide will work for somebody.

**Brian Lehrer** (3:40)
So listeners, we are able to take a few suggestions on the phones or in texts for staying safe in the sun or certainly questions for our guests. Nancy Redd from Wirecutter, 212-433-WNYC, Call or Text, 212-433-9692.
You want to just describe for people for a second how they measure SPF. You mentioned SPF, this is the number that we see on every container of sunscreen, sun protective factor, as you say, and at least 30 is recommended. Do you know what these numbers mean? Like 30 watt, 60 watt, 15 watt.

**Nancy Redd** (4:25)
Exactly. So SPF stands for sun protection factor, and that is how well a sunscreen protects against UVB rays.
And you can find sunscreens and products marked SPF 5, SPF 50, even 100 Now, the minimum experts recommend is SPF 30 And the way that the scale works, we don't have time to get into it extensively, but basically anything more than SPF 30 marginally increases your protection. Most of our body's sunscreen picks are SPF 50 and above. And when you look at this, some experts suggest buying lotions with higher SPF to account for common user error, to make sure you get that minimum SPF 50
Because sometimes, you know, I don't want to call you out, Brian, but I'd love to know your sunscreen habit. Sometimes we'll apply it once, we won't reapply it as suggested, whether it's every 80 minutes or every two hours. And when you do that, the efficacy of the sunscreen declines. Are you a good sunscreen user? Are you faithful with your sunscreen?