[KarenBoo]

OK, this is just weird, and I also feel like I should be "expert level" with all of this because I live in FL.

I normally buy the "natural" brand of sunscreens. I have a lot of it. It gets tucked away in many places. Some in the house, some lives in the car, some in the beach bag, etc.

But we actually don't wear it much. Usually we go to the beach in the late afternoons, and not for very long. Because of 1) having a lot and 2) not wearing it much, I've had most of my tubes for a few years now.

But we went to the beach for the day on July 5. My sister and her family came to visit. We all used my sunscreen. (Badger tinted for the face, and Babyganics brand on the upper body. Nothing on legs.)

DH never wears sunscreen, and didn't that day. We'll call him the "control group."

We all re-applied more frequently than usual - about every 1-2 hours. We also spent more time in the water than usual. It was a GREAT day!! (We have umbrellas to sit under for when we are out of the water.)

We are all burned. (Nobody got sunburn, or even tan, on the legs because the legs were in the water most of the time.) I'm pretty sure nobody blistered. (Increased acne in the teens due to all of the greasing up! Could be a blister or two in there that I don't know about.) Except, Kitten and I have blistered, burned, and swollen lips, which has just never happened before. We have fish lips! (And also odd - they didn't swell until 2 days after!) DH didn't burn as much as the rest of us.

So, what is going on? Is all of my sunscreen expired? Was it just extra sunny that day? I mean, we see this happening to the tourists. You can always know the tourists by their red burns on top of the very white skin. We see this right after winter! I figured they just weren't wearing sunscreen, but maybe their sunscreen is failing too?

Normally my sunscreen works, but it really has been a very long time since we've spent that long at the beach. We normally don't spend all day because we just go when we want. Having guests, we stayed a lot longer.

We all have a base tan.

I really would like to know others' experiences with sunscreen, and especially natural ones. It seems to me that "barrier products" (with zinc and titanium dioxide) couldn't really "expire" because I don't think those things would break down. But, I don't know why it all failed???