CR poll: Who's using sunscreen?

Most of us are, but only some of the time

We know we should wear sunscreen to guard our skin against dangerous ultraviolet exposure. But some of us (women, that is) do a better job of sticking to that recommendation than others. And moms and dads tend to neglect themselves even as they slather sunscreen on their kids.

Those are two findings from a nationally representative survey of 1,000 adults conducted in April by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. Respondents answered questions about their sunscreen habits and their knowledge of terms found on sunscreen labels. We were also interested in parents—about a quarter of our sample lived with children under the age of 12—and their use of sunscreen on their children. Overall, about two-thirds of the respondents (69 percent) said they used sunscreen at least occasionally. Women were more likely than men to use it frequently, regardless of time spent in the sun. Women also used sunscreen more consistently during a range of outdoor activities, rather than just at the beach or pool.

Both were most likely to wear sunscreen often when sunbathing (63 percent of the women; 53 percent of the men) or swimming (64 percent vs. 44 percent ), and less likely to wear it during other activities, like running (25 percent vs. 15 percent). Women reported greater concern about protecting their face from the sun and were nearly twice as likely as men to use a product with a higher sun protection factor, or SPF, for it than for the rest of their body. Women also proved to be pickier about which brand of sunscreen they used; men were more likely to say they used whatever was lying around.

Parents of children younger than age 12 were no more likely to use sunscreen on themselves than nonparents—even though they were more diligent about putting it on their children.

Most sunscreen users said they typically chose a product with an SPF of 30 or higher, the level our experts recommend to ensure adequate protection. In fact, SPF ranked first among factors considered important in choosing a sunscreen. Water resistance, cost, and brand also had a notable influence.

We also asked respondents about what annoyed them about using sunscreen. The top complaint: getting sunscreen in their eyes, cited by 45 percent. Other vexing issues included the cost and smell of sunscreen, as well as how it causes sand to stick to skin.

Even among sunscreen users, sunscreen ranked almost last among personal-care products in the percentage of people who said they used it at least five days a week (18 percent). (Thankfully, deodorant ranked first.) But about one-quarter of the respondents said they used a daily facial moisturizer with SPF.