Never ignore small symbol on packaging when using sun cream in spring

If you’re planning on heading out to enjoy the sun this spring, make sure you heed one important warning on your bottle of sun cream to help you stay protected from skin cancer.

Spring in the UK is an unpredictable season. One minute it’s bright sunshine, and the next it’s raining, with seemingly no warning. But even if it’s not particularly warm outside, as long as the sun is shining, we should be protecting our skin with sun cream – which means it’s time to get the bottles out of the cupboard.

However, before you start covering your body in last year’s sun cream, experts have said you should check one specific symbol on the back of the bottle first.

In a video shared on social media by the consumer experts at Which?, it was revealed that sun cream bottles have important information on the back that lets you know how long they can be used for after they’ve been opened.

So if you’re getting a bottle out of the cupboard that you opened last year, you need to check the symbol to make sure it’s still okay to use it – otherwise, you could be risking damage to your skin.

Experts at Which? have urged people to look for the symbol on their sun cream that looks like a small container with the lid open. This symbol will have a number and the letter “M” inside, such as “8M” or “12M”.

This symbol is called the Period After Opening (PAO) jar symbol, and it lets people know how long you can safely use cosmetic products after you’ve opened them.

However, it can be difficult to remember exactly when you opened your sun cream or moisturiser, so the experts suggested an easy hack to help you remember – use a permanent marker to write the date on the bottle when you open it.

If you do this, you’ll know exactly when the product was opened, so when you go to put your sun cream on after months of not using it in winter, you can easily tell whether it’s still in date or not.

While using out of date sun cream won’t necessarily be harmful on its own, the ingredients that help to protect your skin from the sun can lose their effectiveness, meaning you might end up with a sunburn even when you think you’re safe.

Rutledge Forney, a board-certified dermatologist, told the Skin Cancer Foundation: “Sunscreen does lose its effectiveness over time, and you need to respect the expiration date.

“I have seen numerous sunburns on patients who realised too late that their sunscreen was expired. If you can’t find an expiration date on the product you’re using, you should mark the month and year you purchased it. It should be good for about three years after that date.”

How to choose the right sun cream

Using sunscreen to protect yourself from sunburn is vital, as sunburn can increase your risk of skin cancer. According to the NHS, you can get sunburnt even when it’s cloudy, so it’s important to stay protected no matter what the weather is doing.

When buying sunscreen, the label should have:

• a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30 to protect against UVB
• at least 4-star UVA protection

It’s also important to make sure you’re applying the right amount of sunscreen, as many people do not apply enough. As a guide, adults should aim to apply around 6 to 8 tablespoons of sunscreen to cover their entire body.

For more advice on how to stay safe in the sun, visit the NHS website.