Safe sunscreen

[OakLeaf]

Yeah, I have some little polycarbonate jars that I use for carrying stuff like aloe gel when I travel and chamois lube when I ride. I figure that much exposure is safe (I hope). Back when I used stuff like Coppertone sunscreen, I put some in one of those, and it melted it shut.

I still remember learning about litmus paper in the third (fourth?) grade. Teacher asked all the students to bring some household acids and bases to test. Some kid brought lemon extract. That melted the plastic container we used, too.

I'm really careful about what I put on my skin now, you bet, and I use very little sunscreen of any kind because of the importance of sun exposure, but the lesson isn't necessarily that your sunscreen is bad. Different plastics are soluble by different chemicals, including a lot of perfectly natural stuff.

There's a related lesson about exposing your helmet to harsh chemicals...