It’s damn hot out there right now. If you’re stupid, I mean brave enough to peak out of your door or car long enough to get a workout in the heat and humidity of the summer, hopefully you are taking the proper precautions.
For those of us not able to consistently get out of bed in the early morning hours before work to avoid the heat and sun, then you have no option unless you’re getting all of your workouts at the gym or in your pain cave in the basement. It is heat and sun for you.
Hopefully you take the proper precautions.
After riding, running and swimming in outdoor pools with Skin Strong Sunscreen (SSSC) for a few weeks, I’ve come away with the following assessments.
They are now an official Ironman product. You would have to think if Ironman will back them, they must be on the level, right?
The sunscreen is not as greasy as your traditional sunscreens. It’s a little more fluid and you have to be careful when dispensing from the lotion container or you will end up with more than you need. It’s nice when you apply sunscreen and your hands are not oily and greasy afterwards.
A little goes a long way. When applying sunscreen, I find myself going back to the container two or three times to get enough just to cover face, neck and arms. With SSSC, one visit to the tube is enough. I get enough to cover all the exposed body parts in the same amount of sunscreen glob as other products.
They have options. They have the lotion, spray, stick and after sun spray to keep you from looking like a used up piece of leather after a day in the sun.
The packaging is appealing. Let’s face it, in this day and age of marketing, if you don’t look cool, you’re not cool, right?
Um, it works! Hello. If a product didn’t work for intended purpose, epic fail. I was a little nervous getting as much surface coverage as I did on my exposed body parts with less lotion from other products. Would I have enough on? Was I going to get burnt? I’ve also noticed skin discoloration on my face from training in the sun, and they last thing I want is for it to get worse. After a handful of rides of 20 miles or more on the lunch hour or after work and a couple of runs, I’m happy to come back with no redness or sun damage to my skin. It works. Skin saved, mission accomplished.
The worst part about sunscreen is when you sweat and it runs into your eyes. Most I have encountered sting your eyes and there’s nothing worse than stopping on the bike to wipe sweat out of your eyes because it stings from the sunscreen and you can’t get it out otherwise. I’m not sure if that was a focus for SSSC, but along with a very few other brands, stinging sweat in the eyes was not an issue.
No streaking. Some sunscreens dry before you can adequately get is spread on your face and body before you get nice white dry streaks. Not SSSC. You have plenty of time before it dries and you don’t look like that special person at the beach or pool that just doesn’t know.
Overall, Skin Strong Sunscreen was a quality addition to my skin protection gun rack. As I get older and “wiser”, I realized I spent way too much time in the sun riding or running without adequate protection for my skin. Now, as a “mature” guy in the business world, it’s not exactly pleasant to explain to coworkers and clients why I have permanent splotches on my face and no, it’s not skin cancer.
Skin Strong fits the bill with their line of sunscreen products. Even if you decide not to go with Skin Strong, use something. You only have one layer of skin, protect it!
Writer’s note – Skin Strong supplied product for this review and in no way influenced the writer for a good or bad review.
Ryan Falkenrath writes the blog falkeetriathlon.blogspot.com, married father of two young kids, owner of two dogs and trying to balance life, work and multisport. Ryan has participated in multisport events since 2001 from 5k's to Half Ironmans. Ryan is also the Kansas City Endurance Sports Examiner and you can read more of his triathlon thoughts HERE and he collects race reviews at www.Triathlon-Reviews.blogspot.com. Contact Ryan at: [email protected] or follow him on @TriJayhawkRyan.
*Expressed opinions are not necessarily that of EverymanTri.com
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