I purchased this product for the first time last summer. It was on sale so I decided to try it. banana boat is not greasy and keeps my skin soft. Most importantly, it protects me from burning. I am exteremy active and am outside a lot. Thanks Banana Boat!

First of all, let me say that I'm allergic to all chemical sunscreens (to different degrees), but since I can't bear to throw all of my chemical sunscreens away when I had that realization, I've been trying to figure out ways to finish them off. I've found that putting on lotion beforehand, waiting a few minutes for it to soak into the skin, and then putting on the sunscreen doesn't cause my skin to react badly. Of course, I'm not sure how effective that is, but I figured it's the same as reapplying sunscreen throughout the day to a non-freshly-cleansed face.

This product resembles a lotion more than a sunscreen, and it is very easily spreadable - but don't let that make you apply less than the recommended amount! It is white, but becomes transparent immediately after you spread it around. There is the usual sunscreen "smell", and it's a bit greasy, but I don't mind that too much.

I wasn't too sure how to rate "effectiveness" since we all know that UVB rays aren't what we should really be concerned about (UVA and infrared are more important). I haven't burned while using this product, but then again, I didn't stay in the sun too long - I like to stay in the shade, and I used it while I was outside shopping (so I spent most of my time in the shops). According to EWG, this product's UVA protection is quite bad (which shouldn't be a concern if you don't care about wrinkles), and it also contains oxybenzone. So for the price, this product should work as an emergency sunscreen and I'd recommend this product over not using any sunscreen at all. However, with the long term in mind, I don't think that this product would offer adequate sun protection, so if you're looking for a daily lotion containing SPF, I'd say to look elsewhere.